


Magnification (Or How to Make a Sociopath Without Really Trying)

by MaddieSimpson



Series: YES [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: BAMF River Song, Developing Friendships, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Will For The Love Of God Make This Fit Canon, I am trying to hate you but failing epically, I promise it will make sense, No Smut, Not necessary for a good story, go with it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-12 21:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20571542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieSimpson/pseuds/MaddieSimpson
Summary: This little moon is it, the Doctor told himself. Amy and Rory's last stop before going home. But things don't ever go as planned, and old habits die hard as the Doctor must form an alliance against his better judgment. Fortunately for them, it's impossible to properly condition an assassin who keeps escaping.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own the BBC. Just kidding.
> 
> Summary: This little moon is it, the Doctor told himself. Amy and Rory's last stop before going home. But things do not ever go as planned it seems, and old habits die hard as the Doctor must form an alliance against his better judgment.
> 
> Rating: Teen for language, violence, assault, adult situations, brainwashing, memory wipes :)
> 
> Note: Technically a crossover, this story picks up more or less 3500 years after the conclusion of "Farmer in the Sky" by Robert Heinlein. You really don't need to have read it though, I pretty much am using his setting (and research) and none of the past characters. In the Doctor's timeline, we pick up immediately after "A Christmas Carol." So the last time the gang saw River was at the end of the Pandorica. 
> 
> UPDATE 9/3/2019: I miss TF outta river so I came back to finish it, and make a couple of changes so it fits canon, so it comes off as AU but I got it storyboarded to fit. Eventually lol. Probably the first in a series, we'll see.

Magnification

Chapter One: Something Amiss on Ganymede

And the consciousness resumed. Like the firing of an ignition, a rebirth was set in motion. Across an underground cache of dark lipidic matter, molecules restructured and set to resume their role as part of a whole. It was a whole that had remained dormant, waiting for just the right level of heat energy with which to initiate its reorganization...and bring it to life. Just the right amount of heat to spur its resurrection and enable it to once again attempt a claim to this new universe.

* * *

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Amy asked from the monitor, snapping him out of his reflection. He busied himself on the other end of the TARDIS console.

"Hmm?' He looked up, meeting her questioning gaze. "Oh yes, creating an atmosphere bubble so we can enjoy the view without freezing to death. I try to keep my near death experiences to one method per year." Three oversized steps had him to her side of the console and adjusting a dial.

"But Doctor, it says here the temperature is 28 degrees."

"What measurement unit?"

She rolled her eyes, "Celsius, of course."

He was a little annoyed that Amy was learning enough about piloting the TARDIS to make sense of the monitors and second guess his self-proclaimed ultimate proficiency, but at the same time he was a bit proud of her. She was even starting to make sense of the basic controls, to a limited extent. And he didn't see any harm in it, after all his TARDIS seemed to like her. Hell, Rose had his ship so uptight that it took a semi and a tow chain to open a maintenance port; obviously his old girl would have rather seen him die than let Rose pilot her. After that mess, he became more lax about his companions learning the controls (if the TARDIS would allow), and after seeing River Song fly it so aptly, Amy had been more hopeful of someday making sense of it, and she was becoming better at it than he had expected.

A quick glance at the monitor verified that indeed things were not right. He began scanning the rest of the data registered by the ship. "Hmmm air looks to be breathable, with high levels of oxygen and hydrogen…but the temperature is all wrong…ahh there it is."

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Rory asked them as he walked in to the console room and saw a similar expression of concentration on their faces, glued to the screen.

Amy lit up, "I think I see it. That halo over the topographical readings?"

"What does it mean?" Rory leaned over their shoulders, although deciphering the jargon displayed on the screen would be a hopeless task.

"Yes!" the Doctor smiled and rocked back on his heels, "A foreign energy source. It seems to be creating a containment shell and is acting somewhat like a greenhouse. Should be quite safe to venture outside as long as it remains in place." He was headed toward the door as he spoke with Amy close at his heels.

"Amy," Rory called, "your coat!"

"Thanks," she smiled as he threw it to her, and he followed them both out the twin doors and into the unknown.

* * *

"Oh my…" were Amy's words as Rory met them on the surface of Ganymede just outside the TARDIS.

"Uh, so where exactly are we?" He asked. And then he looked up and saw what had held Amy captive. It was a sight to behold. In his limited travels with the Doctor, he had yet to be taken somewhere merely for the view. This must have been it. He was continually amazed at how comfortable Amy was with this science fiction come to life.

He wondered if he would ever truly get used to it. A part of him didn't really want to, he had learned the Doctor's lesson a short time ago, tasting the torture of time upon an immortal as he waited beside the pandorica. At least he had something to look forward to as days, months, and years became irrelevant: He had Amy. The Doctor had nothing but the present, as far as he knew. He hated the fact that he pitied the Doctor, a god among men. But every time Rory looked up to see he and Amy conferring, planning, or having a 'moment' he couldn't help to cherish the security of his future, in knowing that the day Amy is out of his life, either he will have died or will soon after. As morbid as he sounded to himself it brought him hope. But in it he also could see that the Doctor's fear of abandonment was likely well founded. He held no jealousy of the Doctor's relationship with Amy, Rory knew he would push them both away far before he came to depend on her emotionally. In fact the Doctor had already proclaimed their last trip was eminent. But none of them, Amy, the Doctor, or he seemed quite ready to part ways.

He noticed off to his left he could see the haze of dawn outlining a rocky moonscape, but centered in the dark sky was a massive planet lit two thirds by the approaching sun, red orange, cream, yellow, swirled and in bands on its surface. And then it hit him. "Jupiter!"

"And Io to the right and that is Europa coming close to eclipse," the Doctor added. "We're on the moon Ganymede. My last gift to you was to let you two pilot the TARDIS forward through the phases, but it seems our plans have changed."

Amy was clearly disappointed. "How so?"

"There are lights there to the right on the horizon," he pointed out to them. "We shouldn't be able to stand here without the risk of death by exposure for one. And there aren't supposed to be people here. There haven't been people here for thousands of years. And there are sure signs of some."

"Well why not?" Rory asked. "Why would there not be people on a planet with air to breathe? Didn't you say there are lots of Earth colonies? Why not this one?"

"Full of questions, aren't we? First off, this is not a planet, it's a moon. Most humans dislike living on spheres with days longer than 36 hours. A day and night here amounts to about a week on earth, as it's a lunar cycle and fixed by tidal pulls toward Jupiter. Good thing or we'd have a hard time predicting night and day and then be forced to deal with Amy off her circadian rhythm"

"Watch it, space man!"

"Good point," Rory agreed, with a wry smile at Amy.

"Secondly, Humans TRIED to colonize this planet, melted the ice and created a breathable atmosphere. They even weather and temperature controlled vast areas to create a sustainable ecological system complete with highly productive agriculture. But for some unknown reason it failed. It's remained quite a mystery. But no one knows for sure what happened that wiped out the colonists. You know it was before the creation of instantaneous communication, so the colonists back then were out on their own…one day they were asking for more supplies and the next transmission was static.

"So naturally, we're going to check out these lights over there." And with long strides he bounded off toward the object of his current obsession with Amy and Rory having no choice but to follow closely behind.

Amy easily matched his strides. "But if you're so curious, why not take the TARDIS back to when the colonists were here and just ask them ourselves? Or would that be too easy?" she asked, with no effort to hide her sarcasm.

With a roll of his eyes he replied, "Yes of course if you want to risk ending up like them, but I would much rather go the safe route and depend on a little Archaeology."

"I thought you said you hated Archaeology," She said.

"No, he said he hated Archaeologists," Rory added with a teasing smile.

"I said no such thing, I said I DISLIKE Archaeologists," The Doctor defended.

Amy quipped, "Oh so you mean you dislike Archeologists who show up out of nowhere, save your skin and subsequently scare the socks off of you." This received a snicker from Rory, never missing an opportunity to gang up on the Doctor.

"Haha thick as thieves over there you two. I remember River Song saved you both as well. Amy, you on two occasions. But that is still no reason to trust her." And with that he trodded forward, never relaxing his pace.

* * *

A few minutes later, the trio was spotted across the desolate moonscape through the grey of dawn. From far up the Cliffside, the movement caught by the young agent's trained eye had her flat on her conditioning mat, with her left hand activating the perception filter on her belt and unsheathing her sidearm in one smooth motion. It was only then her conscious mind processed what exactly it was she'd seen.

Three humanoids. Two male. One female. Order of dominance: dark haired male, female, light haired male. Indiscreet with no visible weapons. Heading southwest toward camp.

She was young, but the military training all children who entered the program underwent was put in place for a reason. No one is of use to the agency if they get themselves killed.

The youngest on this assignment and yet to let her superiors down, she was about to cut it close this morning. Well, technically morning, on Ganymede time it was the middle of the night. The two day week took some getting used to, but she had long since disregarded her internal clock and learned to adapt to new places quickly. Her intense lifestyle and training during the last few years with the agency had done little to break her spirit. But a blank slate is the easiest to mold--she remembered no different life. 

Having snuck out to do some low-light climbing and watch the sunrise, she was in a precarious position now and would likely be chastised for compromising the mission. But hey, that's only if you get caught…

No, your first priority is the mission, and this constitutes a possible compromise, she chided herself as she rose up just enough to peek over the edge of the cliff to get a second view of these strange intruders. She observed them a moment and they were definitely uncaring of being seen. The three were in deep, no, more argumentative conversation.

Thinking it best to climb down there to get an ear on them sooner rather than later, she waited a minute until they were out of sight. She then took the rocks out of her pack she used to offer some heft to her covert exercise session, rolled up her conditioning mat and began to scale down the cliffside with practiced agility. And of course the unsuspecting travelers remained oblivious to the elusive River Song, tracking just meters behind them and taking record of their conversation. Which incidentally was quite trivial, since River could care less about Rugby's merits on the psyche of adolescent schoolchildren. The only thing she left unobserved was how she could possibly know what Rugby was...


	2. Chapter 2

The tan tents of the excavation site, looking more the size of a colony, spread before them. Straight ahead to the south were massive tents, and beyond they could see excavation equipment and hills of the grayish brown gravel and dirt that riddled the rest of the moon. To their left were smaller tents, but still quite large, perhaps community tents for dining and many smaller tents behind that. The Doctor headed straight for some permanent buildings to the right.

"Doctor," Amy lay a hand on his arm to slow him down. "How did you know this was a dig site?"

He marginally slowed and spoke in her direction, "Who else would be here in a place they don't belong, digging up a past that is none of their business?"

"You really want me to answer that?"

"Amy, the people who were here died for a reason, and whatever it is may still be here, and they are trying to find it, no doubt. But my more immediate concern is why no one is up and moving this late in the morning."

At that, they caught sight a young man exiting one of the permanent structures pulling a cart that contained what appeared to be cooking ingredients. From his dirty white apron he was likely the cook's apprentice.

The Doctor charged forward and approached the young man, now fairly bewildered at the sight of the strangers.

"Good morning there!" The Doctor greeted as he proceeded to sonic the man's forehead and search his face for general fishiness.

The young man leaned back at the Doctor's forward investigations, "Uhh, who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor" as he continued to visually peruse him.

"From out there in the desert?"

"Yes a nomadic doctor. Just making sure you're not plastic."

Rory came to the rescue as he saw the Doctor drowning in his social ineptitude. "Uhh yes, we're travelers and came across your camp. Can you tell us what's going on here?"

Now somewhat relieved it seemed two thirds of the strangers were fairly normal, his thoughts turned to getting back to work before the head cook saw he was gone too long. "This is an archaeological investigation. I don't really pay attention to what they look for on these things, though. Usually old stuff no one really cares about."

The Doctor patted the young man's shoulder, "Haha see I'm not the only one. Can you tell me who's putting this on?"

"It's set up by the Historical Antiquities Department of the Terra University, they hold classes here and most of the tents are their students. But it is in conjunction with the ISSA. I think they are paying the bills, really. Sorry that's all I know, but I have to get going before they notice me gone."

"Wait," the Doctor's words caught the now impatient young man. "What is the ISSA?"

"The Inter System Security Agency." And with that he turned and left with his cart toward one of the dining tents.

Amy followed the young man with her gaze and turned to the Doctor. "And I assume whatever that is makes this whole thing more interesting, huh?"

"What it means, Amy, is that there are a lot of people besides us interested in this little rock, and what is going on here."

* * *

Adrian Sulivan was pissed off. The last thing he wanted to wake up to is an emergency transmission to his comm patch. And a close second was his young, albeit virtuous, apprentice on the other end telling him that she was out running amok and fell across a group of travelers heading toward camp.

It was hard to be upset with her when she was so damn good at what she did. And like to anyone with paternal instincts, a talented protégé is hard to really discipline. What she needed now was responsibility, to be trusted, and a mentor she could in turn trust who could at least keep up with her. When she was assigned to him by the program directors it was both an honor and a curse, but how could he refuse? She'd become what the agency strove for in their fledgling agents. And he had become somewhat of a black sheep for his unorthodox methods yet outstanding mission success rate. Handling this one, though, was proving to be a challenge.

River had been in the program since the age of 11. Apparently found in an orphanage, of course the location was redacted from her file. At the time she scored off the charts on their field assessments the scout more or less bought her on the spot. 16 now, and all she claimed to carry with her of her life before are vague memories of her mother, and then living on her own. It was almost as if not remembering her recent past was normal to her. If it was due to trauma it didn't seem to be affecting her work. She had yet to disappoint the program directors or the Agency.

Being most of the agents her age had years of experience on her, she'd learned quickly and hadn't been washed out or worse. She held an unbeatable success rate in completed missions. As the program's golden child she had been paired with the best mentors and had absorbed like a sponge the craft of espionage. Not to mention her ediec memory made her a gem among stones: she could research any field, be inserted into any location and pull it off, many times flawlessly.

At her age, however, she was bypassing her usefulness as a child agent (they say the best cover for a spy is childhood) and her current mission had her here as a young student of Archaeology. A tad young, as most of the other students were a decade older, but as usual her research and adaptability paid off. Oh her professors will indeed be disappointed when they find their star pupil was a calculated insertion.

He often wondered why her previous mentors parted ways with her apprenticeship. It could have been fear, jealousy, frustration…he could see how a child like River could cast fear into the most stable of teachers. Especially those who were close to the program. He, on the other hand, was not, and had never worked with the children trained in the youth program. Perhaps that was why he was chosen. But a quick scan of the teenager's file revealed the program's dark underbelly that should have caused him to shy from the whole assignment.

Intensive physical training, mental fitness evaluations, and mind games that stretched the bounds of ethics, facial reconstruction, tactical training. A Laundry list of aliases. Scary were the whole years of nothing in her files. And then you get to her field records.

One thing the Agency uses to defend naysayers with regards to using children as spies, besides them being highly trained and proclaimed 'mentally fit for the simple tasks of reconnaissance,' they are all implanted with audio visual monitors. You wouldn't notice them; they are so small any evidence of it can be covered by a short head of hair. But every second a child is on mission he or she is being closely watched for information they may miss in their reports, and for their safety. If a child is in any way compromised, he or she takes precedence over the mission and they are quickly extracted. At least they claim.

River, however, proved the monitors quite unnecessary; in one of the more enraging chapters of her file an attempt was made to assault her while she was in the field. The bastard was a teacher in a school she was inserted into to help with simple information gathering for a private benefactor. Needless to say the reaction time of the people watching her monitor wasn't fast enough to save his life. They burst into her bedroom to find him with a crushed throat, and River in the corner crying. Although this was just a few years ago she claims to have no memory of this, and the following year of her life is not accounted for in her file.

And I suppose that's why I took her on, he muses. I want to admire her, pity her, protect her—she's never had any of that, at least not from someone who genuinely cares. Maybe helping this young woman find a better future will make up for whatever indirect affect he had in creating her past. He keeps referring to the Agency directors as 'those bastards' but really, he is one of them too, and has been for years.

But whatever sticking it to the man he hopes to accomplish with River, he has more immediate problems at hand. Who are these people that seem to have materialized out of the desert, and who sent them?

Sullivan finished buttoning his outer robe and walked out into sun. He set off to go meet his young agent at their rendezvous point, hopefully before she blows their entire mission.

* * *

River waited for her three subjects to enter the camp, and snuck around to the side alleys between the rows of tents. She stayed low in the early morning shadows although she used her perception filter. Always loving the challenge of stealth, she often made a game out of besting friends and superiors, and today was no exception. Around the corner she spotted Sulivan, always dependable, waiting impatiently exactly where he said to meet—in the alley between the permanent offices and housing units.

She definitely liked her new mentor. He was attractive, in a older, seasoned way. But what she loved was how he played her game. He was guarded, yet played off her youthful flirtiness with tongue in cheek acknowledgement. He seemed to know when she needed space, when she needed to be pushed, and when she needed to be cared about. She was starting to become more comfortable with being touched. Before she started with him, a friendly pat on the back would turn her into the proverbial cat on a hot tin roof. But instead of giving her space like everyone else, he pushed it, and now a hand on her shoulder is no big deal.

He also seemed to genuinely care, and had at least marginally earned her trust. River, however, learned early that the love of a teacher was fleeting; they always got orders to leave you behind. Now that she was older and out of the academy she was supposed to have more stability in her studies, but it was not the case. She hoped that at least this apprenticeship would be a lasting one. Being passed around so much was not the norm. She was starting to take it personally, and wonder what she had done to put off so many mentors. Perhaps it was these silly games she liked to play? Well this time Sulivan was likely already cross with her, no hurt in having a little fun.

She crept up behind him and lightly touched the sandy hair just behind his ear, eliciting a quick turn in her direction which was easily countered. Now behind him again, she touched his opposite ear, this time she got a twitch of his head in response.

"River, I know it's you."

She turned off her perception filter revealing a slightly sideways smile. "Of course, always."

Looking both directions, he took her by the shoulder into the shadows between the buildings and began to chastise her in a hushed voice. "I have nothing to say to you about this that you don't see coming. Look at you! And you're armed no less. What were you thinking?"

"Well I THOUGHT I would be back in my tent by now getting ready for class, which I will be late for if I don't hurry."

"Very well. What do I need to know? Quickly, we cannot be seen together."

"There are three of them, they look actually pretty harmless. One they call Doctor, but I haven't heard his name. He seems to be the one they follow. I think he may not be human, but I think the other two are. Interesting, I think they are here on accident, but know there's something going on. I don't think they really know why we're here."

"Good work, despite that you will be the end of me, child. Please go on to class before you're missed. You should get word from me soon about this recent development. Keep your com patch on and for the love of God get out of those clothes and hide your weapons."

River mockingly looked down at her black tights, thermal black top and her hiking shoes. "You don't fancy my workout gear? I thought these made my butt look good." She turned to inspect her own rear.

"I said get out of here," Sulivan couldn't help but give her a chuckle, and got a sly smile in return, as River turned and activated her filter. He could still see her, as he knew she was there, and waited for his young lioness to stalk away before heading off to find out about this Doctor and how the hell he landed on Ganymede without anyone noticing.

River shortly made it to her bunk tent, and arrived at the dig site with the rest of the class. No one noticed she hadn't been present during breakfast. But no one realizes how much the average person exists in their own little world until one starts studying such things. The rules of going unnoticed were skills River prided herself in. But unfortunately those rules didn't apply where an old man from Gallifrey was concerned.

* * *

Well if this security agency is in charge here, they sure are doing a terrible job at it, the Doctor thought to himself as they headed toward what they assumed to be the tent covering the dig site.

"Doctor, why has no one stopped us? The way that young chap back there looked at us it was obvious they don't get many visitors," Amy said.

The Doctor smiled to himself. He was often charmed by Amy's ability to stay on the same page as he. "Can't say. Maybe they don't care."

Rory looked behind him briefly and turned to the Doctor. "Or they're waiting to see what we do. I've felt like we've been watched all day."

"You are so paranoid!" Amy said to him as she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, if so it's our turn to do some listening in."

They came upon the huge tent and were met with organized chaos. The area seemed divided in sections, in front of them was a bit of exposed earth with what seemed to be lights set up along two sides of it, creating somewhat of a grid. There were shallow, square holes dug out here and there. But toward the back of the tent was another, larger area that looked dug down nearly 2 meters. Along the side to the left of them were tables set up with what looked like excavated materials as well as equipment apparently used for analysis. Further to the back of the tent was what looked like a meeting area, where most of the people were congregated who were not busy digging or going through artifacts and whatnot on the tables.

The Doctor, with his odd swagger, made his way to the table and proceeded to pick up a piece of rusty metal and sonic it. Amy and Rory followed, but they diverted into the direction of the small group in the back of the tent. An older woman wearing a grey laboratory type overcoat was addressing the group of what looked like students, although they seemed to range greatly in age.

"And so the extremes in environmental exposure have made this investigation unusually difficult. Whenever the basic ecology is at all artificially manipulated, like in the case of the creation of the moon's atmosphere, everything else seems to go out of whack without artificial support. Like in the fact that we're at the mercy of a massive field generator to keep it warm enough to melt the accumulated ice and of course allow us to function here on the surface. As you all know, after the colonists disappeared the generators they installed failed without an artificial energy source (of course the technology we have today did not exist then) and it created an ice sheet, albeit small. Nothing compared to the vast glacial sheets that we know existed here before the great melt. But definitely enough to make our job here very difficult.

"In essence, everything that existed on the surface was destroyed, either decayed with time, or swept out into the inland sea when we melted the moon again."

"Ma'am, a question." A young man seated with the group interjected. "How do we know that evidence of what it was that killed these people is here with the colonists? I mean maybe it was here before. If it's indigenous it could be anywhere, especially if it's a pathogen."

"Because there was nothing here. All of the moon's ecology was painstakingly introduced, or engineered to suit life here."

The Doctor had finished his perusal of the nearby table and stood next to Rory, attracted to the lecture's new, more interesting direction. He had always hated school.

"But how do you know?" The young man replied. "Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to melt the ice off of a moon this size? There is no way of knowing what lay under the ice, or at what temperature it could have changed forms, been destroyed, or even mutated."

In his head the Doctor was quickly computing the size of reaction one would need to convert the surface ice to gas and create an atmosphere. The idea of blowing things up always got his full attention. He was distracted though, by a young girl in the middle of the class, with her nose in her handheld fixatedly calculating. She abruptly leaned back with a small smile.

That's interesting. She is very young, but had only maybe a year or two fewer than some of the others. But why would she have more interest with inane computations than what was a very significant turn of the lecture? This was an interdiciplined group for sure. They passed a mobile bio lab that was pressurized and full of equipment and technicians, and had seen a console with geological surveys on the display. But hardly the place for a teenager who happens to be a history student AND an amateur mathematician.

He watched as she got up with the rest of the class to begin their assorted duties. She was neatly kept with her hair in braids, mostly tied behind her head except for a few errant escapees. She was athletic and practiced in how she moved. She was fit, and had nice calves. Her brown eyes scanned the room without really looking. She was—

"DOCTOR!" Amy finally got his attention. "She can't be older than 17. What is with you today? The first pretty girl who walks by has you off in your own little world apparently. Come back to Earth, please."

The Doctor turned to Amy and laid his hands on her shoulders. "Amy," he said, looking her straight in the eyes, "shut up. And just to remind you-Ganymede, Amy. We're on Ganymede."

"Well in his defense she looks over 16, depending on local laws..." Rory interjected with a chuckle, immediately receiving an elbow to the ribs from Amy.

"It's like travelling with children with you two I swear." And at that The Doctor glanced over her to see a blonde man in blue robes heading toward them. "Look now you both fail to see that we have officially been noticed." He walks between them and ahead out into the sun to meet the man. Reaching into his breast pocket to pull out his psychic paper, he is interrupted.

"No need for that, Doctor. I know who you are. My name is Adrian Sullivan." He offers his hand to the Doctor who takes it and receives a firm handshake. "Welcome to our little investigation. I was hoping you could offer us your assistance."

This wasn't the first time the Doctor had been propositioned. In many things actually. He gave his typical response, preceded by a sigh. "First tell me what you have in mind."


	3. Chapter 3

Sullivan walked the threesome to a nearby tent and ushered them in. In one fluid motion he drew a chair and sat in front of his computer console and brought up maps and figures as he spoke. "As you may have already guessed we've opened a formal investigation into the happenings that led to the colony's failure 3500 years ago. And if you are asking why, a group of private benefactors are footing this one. As of now we are not much further along than the rescue party that was sent a year after their last transmission."

The Doctor was skeptical. "A private benefactor? Not a company or organization?"

"Well a group. You probably know it is difficult to understand the wiles of the extremely rich. One second a self proclaimed history buff and the next he's footing the bill for an archaeological dig. But this one is of course a bit sticky because of the risk involved. That's why the ISSA was hired to manage it. We have the resources needed in case things get messy, like if the cause was a nasty pathogen or religious order."

"Ha yes well the chances of it being a volcano or something really cool look slim." This elicited a gauging look from Sullivan, followed by a smile and a small laugh.

"We should be so lucky. Then I could go home and be rid of this God forsaken rock. But could you take a moment and look at what we do have? I really need something here." He moved away from the console and offered his chair to the Doctor. Amy moved behind him to look over his shoulder.

Rory, vastly uninterested in whatever was on the console display, turned to Sulivan. "So, uh, you've been here long?"

"Only a little more than two months. We just started at this site a week ago, or I guess you would see more holes. Before we were in the center of the colony, but this site here is a farm on the outskirts."

"So what exactly is this company you work for? The ISSA?"

"We're a private agency that specializes in security, intelligence, and emergency management. I'm an AIC, like a field manager." He looked behind him over his shoulder and continued in a hushed voice. "I try to keep these Profs thinking that they are leading the investigation, but the accountability falls on me when it comes to how the money is spent, if you know what I mean. I could be in big trouble letting you guys in on it, but I really need a bone here. Literally. We haven't even found any remains, and I was hoping by now we might have some indication of cause of death. We're starting to think they were teleported off by some advanced species or something."

"Ahhh there we are!" They heard the Doctor exclaim from the console.

"What is it?" Sullivan joined Amy in looking over his shoulder at the display.

"An energy disruption. Here," and the doctor pointed to an area on the map.

"But that's impossible," Sullivan replied. "We've been going over those readings daily. I mean we have a man monitoring JUST the field generators, and any discrepancy would have been found."

"Well this is from two days ago. Looks like 120 kilometers to the west, near this mountain formation."

"I don't see anything, honestly."

"You wouldn't if you were looking for an excess of heat energy. From a geological standpoint there is something going on at that location. It looks like something has rapidly expanded under the surface, and using heat energy to achieve this. You people can never get it through your heads that an absence of energy is sometimes more significant than an excess."

Sullivan smiled to himself. "And I am guessing if I go over those readings again with that mindset I will see the residuals of your craft landing."

The Doctor looked Sullivan in the eye and gave a conspirational tap to his own nose. He then stepped away from the console and straightened his brown tweed blazer. "Now if you will excuse us, my companions and I should be going. We wouldn't want to keep you from your continued investigations." He turned toward the door. "Come along Ponds."

"You're going there, aren't you," Sullivan soberly read the Doctor.

The Doctor stopped and slowly turned. He liked how this man got to the point. "Yes, we are."

"Well, there's nothing I can do to stop you, of course. But you do know that according to article 36 of the Shadow Proclamation regarding private or public investigations of hazardous disaster sites, mass death, genocide, or—"

The Doctor turned to Amy and Rory and gave a purposefully auditory aside. "This guy is good." Turning back to Sullivan, he sighed, "Alright, what do you have in mind?"

"Let me send one of my field agents with you. I know the addition will prove invaluable to your party, without a doubt. And my agency will have representation while you investigate, which will fulfill the guidelines set forth by the proclamation."

"Yes I'm sure they would be overjoyed by my compliance. Okay fine whatever. But in the event he gives me trouble he will be deposited at a distance from the camp that yields an obnoxiously long walk back."

"I assure you will have no complaints. You'll be taking my youngest field agent, she's well suited for this task. Her name is Hannah, and I'm quite sure she is here now. Hannah?"

At that instant River deactivated her perception filter and revealed herself standing just a foot or two from Rory, who jumped in surprise at her abrupt appearance. River stifled a laugh. "Yes, Sullivan?"

"Is this something you're interested in taking on?"

"You all had me at energy disruption, sir."

The Doctor was dumbfounded for the first time in a long time. Not only was this the strange girl who got his attention earlier, but now she had snuck up on him. He must be getting complacent. How the hell did he not notice her?

Amy leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Maybe she is just very good at this."

She and the Doctor shared a knowing glance. This could get very interesting.

Sullivan looked almost relieved. "Good then. Hannah, this is the Doctor. And what was it, ah yes, Amy and Rory."

River gave a polite nod and all business, turned to Sullivan. "I'll need a few minutes to gather some supplies and download the recent surveys to my handheld. I'm quite sure three days of rations will be more than enough. I'll also need an evaporator as well as a portable field generator—"

"Which will all be unnecessary." The Doctor interrupted her from the console which he had made his way to and was now sonicing.

She gave a very annoyed look to Sullivan and turned to the Doctor. "Excuse me?"

"My ship is just a kilometer or so off. We'll take that and land next to this place we're checking out."

"Well unless your ship is the size of a port-o-let we are going to have a hard time landing, if you take a minute to look at that map in front of you."

Amy started chuckling to herself. This WAS going to be interesting.

The Doctor had not bothered to look up from the console throughout their short exchange, but replied with a smile to Amy, who was still chuckling. "Suit yourself then. Rory why don't you help her with that. Amy and I will stay here and go over this data." He looked back down at the console with a smile and saw out of the corner of his eye Amy beginning to fume at the thought of her husband going off with the attractive, and bossy young woman at his request.

"Uh Okay." Rory replied looking somewhat confused.

Sullivan whispered something to River. With a nod to Amy and the Doctor she turned on her perception filter and exited through the tent flap he held up for her. "All right, We'll all meet again outside to the north of camp in about a half hour." Sulivan beckoned Rory along and the three of them left the Doctor and Amy in front of the console.

"You are ridiculous," Amy scowled under her breath but her anger was far from heartfelt. It took a lot for her to be really mad at him.

The Doctor bent down to sonic under the console and looked up at her with a smile. "Aren't I?"

She leaned over and landed a short kiss to his temple and gave a not-so-gentile ruffle of his hair. "Yes, you are. And I bet you don't even know why I was laughing."

"I have better things to do than analyze your terrible sense of humor."

She was taken aback in mock surprise. "I have a great sense of humor. And you'll wish you'd asked me, I'll just leave it at that."

Rory, River and Sullivan were waiting outside the camp as Amy and the Doctor arrived. Rory was wearing a pack, as was River, who was changed back in to her garb of choice, her black leggings, black thermal top, and all-purpose hiking shoes.

The doctor looked her up and down. "Is that really necessary?" River cocked her head with a questioning expression. The Doctor nodded to her sidearm.

"On that I insist, Doctor." Sullivan answered for her. "On this entire moon, Hannah's hip is the safest place for that weapon."

"On this I insist, the weapon stays or she does."

If River had any doubt this guy had trust issues it was gone. "No that's alright. The only thing to shoot out there is rocks anyway." Besides, her bare hands were about as deadly as any man made contraption. "Well, come on, let's be off."

Sullivan turned to River, and taking her weapon asked her with his eyes if she was sure about this crazy plan. He really didn't have to ask her, as of now she would jump at ANYTHING to get out of academia for a few days and out in the open using her investigative skills. Sullivan placed a hand on her forehead.

"I will expect an update every four hours or so, If I go eight without hearing from you, we'll send out a rescue party." He gave River one last glance, and turned and left.

At that they made their way to the TARDIS. Unbeknownst to the other three, River promptly began receiving a briefing from Sullivan through her com patch. Her audiovisual monitor had been removed some time ago, and replaced with an ear implant that was a standard for field agents. It allowed for her to receive covert transmissions only she could hear. Of course she could send transmissions but she had to at least whisper. He could also hear what she hears.

Hopefully the others did not question why they were walking to the ship when they passed three vehicles parked near them in camp. But the whole point to the short hike out was for Sullivan to fill her in on what he had found out about these travelers before she entered their ship. Because he offered the mission in the first place she assumed dealing with these people, even this strange 'Doctor,' if that is what he really was, would be well within her capabilities.

By the time they were half way to the ship she knew everything Sullivan did about their visitors. That there was no account of Amy and Rory, but a confusing and detailed account of this Doctor. Apparently immortal, he has been found in historical accounts dating back thousands of years. He has throughout history been of invaluable assistance to the human race in general, in a positive capacity. That is why Sullivan jumped at the chance to get him on board. He said this Doctor was maybe even a shapeshifter, as he often changes his physical features, so she should watch for that. Although he could just get tired of his face and have a penchant for plastic surgery. She could relate to that. The dark hair and striking smile of her current façade sometimes attracted more attention than was desired, and she was ready for a change.

"And one last thing," she heard Sullivan in her ear. "I think you and this Doctor got off on the wrong foot. Please, for me, throw an olive branch at him. He will make a great ally now and perhaps even in the future."

River rolled her eyes. Fine. She cleared her throat in acquiescence and turned off her com patch with what looked to the casual observer like she was giving a small scratch behind her ear. Sullivan had a terrible habit of yakking in her ear while she was trying to have a conversation. So annoying. She turned and slowed to fall in step with the Doctor.

"Listen, Doctor, I'm afraid that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot this morning. As you may have guessed, I'm a little anxious to be moving somewhere in the investigation. We are all really grateful for your help." Crap that might have been too much.

And it was, he didn't reply but looked at her with narrowed eyes.

Well, the truth never hurt anybody. "To tell you the truth, I haven't gotten to take too many excursions recently. Any really. This is the first time I've gotten to lead a mission."

She received a smile. "That's alright, I understand. I was young once too. But don't go running off and planning things behind my back, or not listening and the other things young people seem to want to do these days." He gave a glance behind at Amy who smiled sheepishly. "Well not just these days, but you know what I mean."

"Of course not." Yeah that was a lie. "But tell me the truth, Doctor. You're not human are you?"

He thought for a moment. "No, I'm not. What gave it away? My otherwordly good looks, keen wit and outstanding sonic screwdriver technique?"

"No you smell weird. And your gait is somewhat akin to that of a sick giraffe."

He laughed heartily, and the smile he beamed at her made her heart flutter a little, which she consciously ignored. "What? What are you talking about? Any truth Rory?"

"Well yes about the Giraffe thing."

"I do not!" He turned back to River, "Well at least I don't walk around like an over confident house cat. And you have no idea how offensive you humans smell to me. Especially after you come in from the rain."

All four shared a laugh, and began describing the most creatively grotesque things to use in comparison to each other's scents. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. She was immediately starting to feel comfortable with all three. And especially the Doctor, despite that he seemed a bit moody and a little silly and nonsensical. She definitely saw the depths of intelligence in his dark eyes, and she was always attracted to people who have a sense of humor about themselves. She just hoped she wouldn't start to feel TOO comfortable.

Around a boulder they came upon the Doctor's vessel. No wonder he didn't get upset by her comparison of his ship to a portable restroom.

"This is it? You're kidding, right?" It was the size of a closet, with its abused surface painted dark blue. "Police public call Box," she recited

"You can read that?" The Doctor mindlessly observed.

"Oh, just wait," Amy smiled to River and followed the doctor through the creaky blue door.

After having stepped inside the small blue box, River realized she had spoken too soon. She was usually very skilled at hiding her emotions, but this was too cool. "Wow."

"This, miss Hannah, is called a TARDIS. Time and relative dimension in space. You may have noticed that it is…" He waited for her to finish his sentence.

"Ummm….smaller on the outside?" The doctor seemed somewhat disappointed at her description.

'You know, bigger on the inside just makes it sound so much more endowed." Rory smiled.

"Please don't go there, Rory." He addressed River again. "And it is very fast. That 's about all you need to know."

Amy interjected, "But wait it's also a—"

The doctor cut her off with a warning glance, "A mansion, complete with a library and a swimming pool. Well, a swimming pool in the library, courtesy of her recent remodeling. But you can check it out later. Now off we go…."

"Her remodeling?"

"Too much to explain." Doctor had his back to River and was messing with the controls and began giving direction to Amy, who was with Rory on the far end, adjusting the required buttons and levers.

River remained by the door, overwhelmed. Then all at once she felt sort of niggle of thought in her head, almost like a resurfacing buoy on a placid pond. It was a memory of her mother, but like she was talking to her now, not in the past. This was weird.

"Excuse me," she said, but was ignored by all three up by the console. "Excuse me!" She repeated herself, this time the doctor looked over his shoulder in her direction, but was obviously still focused on the ship's controls.

"What is it?"

"I know this may sound strange, but is your ship telepathic?"

All three instantaneously stopped what they were doing and looked at her with blank faces. The Doctor quickly jumped off the console's platform and walked up to her, pulling the screwdriver out of his breast pocket and sonicing her forehead.

"What are you doing?"

"No just tell me what you said."

"I asked if the ship was telepathic or something." This was too strange, she might as well tell them what is going on. It was not often she felt a little helpless and wasn't sure how to handle this. "I really don't remember a lot from my childhood, but I do a few things. It is like something is talking to me through my memories, and it's stuff I don't even know. I am pretty sure it's something in this ship, but I don't know how I know that. I'm sorry I'm not making sense."

He continued to search her face. She leaned back a little; she wasn't used to being fussed over. "Well, what is it saying to you?"

"Hello Sweetie."

If she was confused before, now she was seriously taken aback by their strange reactions to what she thought was such a seemingly benign piece of information.

"Oh no! NO NO NO NO!" The doctor exclaimed and with three strides was up on the console platform, pacing and holding his head. "WHY?"

And if that wasn't bad enough, Amy was hysterically laughing next to Rory, who was visibly upset. "HAHAHA Oh SNAP!" Amy said as she turned to Rory. "See I told you.'

Rory, quite annoyed, replied, "How is that even possible? I thought you were just being crazy or something. That's not fair."

She was still laughing and extended her hand to Rory. "Hey, fair is fair and you need to pay up, moneybags." And he grudgingly withdrew his wallet.

Looking back over to the Doctor, River saw that he was now not so softly hitting his head on the edge of the console. "Come. On. Why. Does. This. Keep. Happening. To. Me."

Okay that's enough, she was loosing her patience. "HEY!" And this elicited silence and the full attention of the trio at the console. Again. "Can someone PELASE tell me what is going on, and why your ship is talking to me?"

And then she saw the fire.

"No! You tell ME what's going on." The doctor made it to her in fewer steps this time. "Are you River Song?"

She actually was proud of the not-shock she showed on her face. "Yes. How do you know that?"

"Oh wouldn't you just like to know! What else are you hiding? And why are you lying to us?"

She stood her ground. "What just because I give you an alias means I'm suddenly hiding things? So I didn't tell you my real name, big surprise CAUSE I'M A SPY and all!"

"James bond always used his real name." Rory pitched in his two cents.

"Good point Rory." The doctor said and continued to glare at her with this new evidence.

What is wrong with these people? "What are you talking about? Listen, Everything I have told you is the truth. I just want to get this mystery solved to get my butt off this rock and on to another assignment. I don't' know what your problem is, and I really don't care. But I'll tell you right now I'm going out there to check this thing out if I have to walk, but I'd rather go along with you, despite how strange you all seem to be. Please do me a favor and get over whatever THIS is and let's get on with the mission."

Apparently this was somehow enough to win him over because he searched her eyes for a moment. "And no more lies?"

She looked up into his face, a scowl still present and his fair complexion slightly flushed. "Of course. No lies." She lied.

"Fine then. Amy where are we?" The Doctor walked up and took his previous position at the console with River following after.

"Uh, ready I think." She scanned the console that looked, to River, absolutely unnavigable.

"Good."

River had to ask though. "Can I just ask one question? How could you possibly know who I am? I've never met any of you."

Amy smiled and leaned over to her. With a conspirational voice everyone could hear she said, "Maybe you'll find out in the future."

"Amy!" the doctor exclaimed in a warning tone that made the other three jump. He then quickly stepped in front if a lever and pulled it, knocking an unsuspecting River Song flat on her rear. He would have had Amy too, but she had the sense to keep her hand on the console. Rory, of course, was always hanging on to something when he saw the Doctor near the center of the control room.


	4. Chapter 4

River had to reach over the Doctor's arm to smack the boring blue stabilizer button as Amy directed, instantly stopping the ship's violent throws. She looked up and found her face just inches from his. He was still dark and moody, his face flushed. River mirrored his state with a scowl. "You did that on purpose."

"It's not my fault you can't stay on your feet. Spoilers."

"Well, whatever that means, I'm just going to let you know that no one, NO ONE knocks me down twice."

"Oh, is that a challenge, sweetie?" He shot back as he flipped a lever in exasperation.

Amy, who had been looking at the monitor, interrupted them. "Will you quit quarreling? Doctor, please be nice. River, don't talk to him while he's cross."

The Doctor retreated from the standoff with a final glare at River and walked past her, leaning in to Amy. "Just don't teach her how drive the TARDIS, alright?" He looked over her shoulder at the monitor.

"But it's so interesting and paradoxical, don't you think?" She herself received a glare. "Everything's fine Doctor. I looked through it already. The temperature is fine here too."

River, still confused at not understanding half the things this odd bunch were talking about, joined them in front of the monitor. The Doctor moved out of the way to give her a better look. River sighed, "Of course it is. The atmospheric shield is a thousand kilometers in diameter."

"There's one problem." The doctor was still looking at the monitor. "River, Amy, it was a good thing you turned on the stabilizers, the TARDIS was unable to land where we'd plotted. Must have something to do with that energy disturbance."

River was comparing the readings on the Monitor to the map on her handheld. "Yes, we're…6 kilometers off." She smiled smugly up at the Doctor. "Good thing someone came equipped." She walked off down to the doors and began inspecting the gear. Rory entered the console room with a small pack for Amy, and joined River as they adjusted the larger packs.

The Doctor leaned against the console and spoke under his breath. "How did I not guess it was her?"

Amy smiled, "I have no idea." They shared a chuckle. Amy was glad to see him back in a fair mood. She was just now getting used to his abrupt swings, and learning to deal with him. "Maybe the new face has something to do with it. Doctor, you said you get new faces. Is she like you?"

"No, she's not a Time Lord if that's what you're asking. She has scars from facial reassignment."

"And she really has no idea who we are? She could be lying." Amy looked toward River quizzically.

"I honestly don't think knows. The question really is, are we supposed to meet now?"

"Interesting. How do we find that out?"

" I don't know." He folded his arms and leaned on the railing closest to him. "But we've already given away too much. We've got to be careful and give her as little information as possible."

"You mean YOU gave away too much? We can agree she's just a kid. Doctor, you have got to back off on her. She hasn't done anything to you, has she? You are hardly being fair. It's not like she can help being, well, herself." She became sober, and would have been on the brink of tears had they been alone. "And I don't want to spend my last trip with you being a referee, you know?"

And had they been alone, she knew he would have given her a heartfelt kiss on the forehead. Instead, he took her hand and gave it a squeeze, and quickly released it. "Yes, I realize that. You know how I don't like surprises, though." He was thoughtful. "And this doesn't have to be the LAST last trip, maybe the first of the last series…"

She gave him a hopeful smile. She turned to see Rory down by the doors watching them, and beamed a 10,000 kilowatt smile down to him. Rory was such a good man, and she cherished his companionship. She hadn't realized how much she missed him while she was alone travelling with the Doctor. All this was so exciting and strange, and sharing it with someone made it all the better. The Doctor usually knew what was going on, nothing really surprised him. Just being around the Doctor was a carnival, an experience in itself, even without all the exotic destinations. She couldn't wait to get Rory alone so they could gossip about the Doctor, and how crazy River has him acting.

Both Amy and the Doctor met with the others by the door, Rory and River had adjusted their packs, with Rory having to insist on taking the heavier one. Amy checked her pack and saw toiletries and essentials, as well as some water.

"Doctor, no pack for you?" River asked as she hefted her pack to her shoulders.

"Like I said before, supplies are unnecessary. At least for me, since I plan on being there and back before I miss my next meal." And at that he held the door open for River to exit through, who was smiling to herself. As they passed behind her the Doctor rolled his eyes to Amy and Rory, who both smiled as they knew that he could go days without eating and be no worse for wear.


	5. Chapter 5

After about 3 kilometers the group was set in a swinging pace. The Doctor was actually glad for the walk, as Amy once again stopped him in the tracks of what was bound to become a collision course, and he needed some time in his own head.

The grey and rocky terrain indeed helped with this; it always seemed the more he needed to turn introspective, the easier it was to find a distraction from the task. Renovating the TARDIS, getting involved in epic battles and completely changing the course of history, and at his lowest points shagging key historical figures. And yes, he would describe his relationship with Liz 1 as a thorough nailing. Who knew she was such a masochist? And definitely not a 'wham bam thank ya ma'am' kind of lady, he discovered after waking up married.

But what was it about this particular woman that had him so strung out? Here he was, redirecting his frustrations with the IDEA of this River Song onto an innocent teenager. Well who also happens to be River Song. But he was the first to know that a person is defined by their actions, and she had yet to give any indication that she had intentions other than stated. River said something to him a long time ago, that stuck with him. This young River is likely a totally different person from the one he has known up to now. But if they are fixed, and he is meeting her now, then he plays a key part in who she becomes. Just the thought of that makes him want to run far, far away. Maybe he should.

He had a bad feeling about this. And not just because of River and her future being shaped at his hands, but because this young woman incited in him disturbing emotional reactions. Familiar, direct, and raw. Like before, when she was giving her little diatribe about wanting to get on with the mission and not caring one bit about him being upset with her lying. He was listening to her, but he became distracted by her aroused proximity, by her courage to stand up to him even though she did not know him. How such young eyes could hold that confidence. He had even felt himself blush. All that of course made him dislike her more.

Resolved, he decided it would be wisest now to keep her at arms length. He'd just be nice to this young River and get through this as painlessly as possible. After all, he knew River well enough to believe she would attempt to finish her mission without them if he were to high tail it, so that made him obligated to stay and ensure she returns to her teacher in one piece. Her premature death would be on his shoulders, being that it was HIS analysis of Sulivan's data that had them out here in the first place. After this Pandorica stuff, the future of the entire universe could lay on the line.

He remained more than happy to then get off this rock with the kids, er, companions as soon as possible. Maybe he would take the two to Space Florida and leave them a few days to make up for this hike through such a barren landscape. Seriously, there was NOTHING here.

He felt a twinge of energy to his left and noticed Rory quizzically looking at him. "Doctor, are you alright? What are you thinking about?"

Leave it to Rory to be the only one who has ever asked him that, and actually be genuinely interested. He was a good friend. The Doctor smiled, "What do you think?" He asked, nodding to the two ladies walking together up ahead.

"Ahhh Ms. Song." he looked up and took a quick breath. "Do you really want to know what I think?"

The Doctor nodded.

"I think she's dangerous. Seeing you with her today and her not even really an adult yet? How're you going to handle her in full tilt? I think you need to step back a little and give her a chance to learn to trust you, and you in turn need to do a better job of not assuming the worst from her. You both seem to have trust issues or something."

Up ahead they could hear the two laughing about something, probably girly and uninteresting. No, more likely laughing about one of them. "Which one of us do you think they're laughing about?"

"With Amy, probably both."

He patted Rory on the back. "Rory, you are ever insightful. I will take your advice." At that moment a clap of thunder echoed across the sky. The doctor looked surprised. "It's not supposed to rain with the atmospheric shields up."

And as if answering his statement, River turned and called back to them. "I think it's time to take a rest, the rain is programmed to start any minute." She and Amy walked to their left and set their packs against the cliff wall they had been walking beside.

"Don't you think we should find an overhang or cave or something?" Rory asked.

"No, as long as we find a spot higher than the surrounding area, the portable field generator I brought will keep us dry. We can eat and rest here while we wait it out. I have to remind you all that the days and nights are much longer than standard, so it's easy to wear yourself out if you're not used to it. You all have been up and about for the past 8 hours or so and should stop and rest."

And the Doctor catalogued and filed THAT one for later. They only met River 6 hours ago. He wondered if he would even be able to keep his mouth shut long enough to get through this without another confrontation. Hopefully one that wouldn't end up with one of them killing the other and possibly compromising the universe.


	6. Chapter 6

It took just a few minutes for River and Rory to set up a temporary camp. And with Amy giving direction here and there as to where to put the sleeping mats to cushion the rocky ground, they made themselves a formidable nook. The Doctor, however, stayed out of the way, every once in a while bending down to inspect a piece of equipment River unpacked. At one point he began inspecting the cliff wall, first sonicing it then putting his ear against it and striking it with what appeared to be a rubber doctor's mallet.

Amy noticed River giving sideways glances at the Doctor, observing him. She looked toward Amy with a questioning expression, and Amy just smiled and shrugged. Welcome to life with the Doctor.

This was looking to be one of their more interesting adventures. Amy was relishing in the power and responsibility she was handed, since the dynamic between their party and river was completely turned. The thought that a slip of crucial information could alter the fabric of time, or conversely-create her present, was dizzying. She decided to keep herself guarded, but friendly.

Along their hike the two talked about many trivial things, like fashion and travelling and boyfriends, as much as two people could who were cautious about divulging too much information. Although, River seemed to open up to her in such a way as to give Amy the impression she did not have many friends. She did ask probing questions about the Doctor and if Rory ever got jealous because the Doctor is handsome and close to her age. Amy just laughed and said that he is older than he looks, and far too weird for her taste. They laughed together at his strange ensemble, with bow tie, tight black pants and suspenders, with a tweed blazer to top it off. They agreed it made him look like some sort of homeless professor.

River's knowledge of 20th century pop culture was impressive. She was familiar with obscure musicians and artists of the 70's and 80's but also knew Amy's favorite artists as well. And these were bands and cultural icons that in no way should be standing the test of time. When Amy asked how she knew so much, River just shrugged. "I study history, probably remember too much I shouldn't."

Amy was not about to believe Modest Mouse and Coldplay will be in the universal vernacular for the next few thousand years. Perhaps, even this young, River's been a time traveler. But if she was hiding this fact, wouldn't she hide knowledge that would give it away? To Amy, River seemed so intelligent and so stupid at the same time. Like a walking contradiction. One minute reactive and instinct driven, the next calculated and questioning. Maybe it was due to immaturity...but there was something else she couldn't put her finger on. Amy was resolved, however, to continue mediation efforts between River and the Doctor. She saw the fragility of the situation with them knowing so little about her.

The party's hiatus was timely, just moments after River activated her field generator the rain started.

That contraption was one of the neatest things Amy had ever seen. It somehow generated a sort of force field around their setup and the rain hit it and washed down as if they were in a glass dome. "This is so cool!" Amy exclaimed looking up at the top of the field, about 2 meters above her head. The area it kept dry was 5 meters or so in diameter but backed up to the cliff wall, which the doctor was now seated and leaning against.

Rory agreed, "Yeah we should definitely get one of these."

River smiled, "Sure is handy, huh? It's even climate controlled. From sweltering to below freezing."

"Yes I am SO glad you brought it," Amy said with a glare at the doctor as she sat down on one of the mats next to Rory. She was giving the Doctor an obvious in to make amends with River, they had not spoken a word since they left the TARDIS. Her talk with him must have gotten through, though, as he'd mellowed since this morning. But if they were going to share this small space for a while someone needed to break the ice.

The Doctor gave Amy somewhat of an indignant sideways glance and addressed River, whose back was turned to him, adjusting settings on the field generator. "Yes, River, I owe you an apology." She looked over at him and waited, expectantly. His eyes were focused on a rock near her feet. "Well, several really. But thank you for doing such a thorough job outfitting this excursion. I'm always impressed by how…capable you are." At the last word his eyes lifted to her face, and behind them Amy could see heartfelt truth. Although 'capable' wasn't exactly the ideal compliment for the situation, she thought.

But apparently it worked for River. A smile spread across her face. "Capable?" She looked up, thoughtful, and looked back to the doctor. "I've never been called capable before. I've been called a lot of things, but that's sort of nice." She paused again in thought and turned to the opposite end of the enclosure, but stopped, conflicted. She again faced him. "Can you do me a favor, though? Please don't get angry at people when they don't understand what they've done wrong. It's not fair."

For the first time since they knew it was her, River revealed herself as the youngster she was-that a shroud of intelligence, autonomy, and confidence masked what was a very vulnerable young girl. Amy knew that the Doctor was surely suppressing the urge to get up and give her a comforting pat, or hug. Amy knew she was.

Maybe he was starting to get it. The look of mixed pity and shame Amy read on his face told her he had. "You're right, it's not fair, and I'm sorry."

River smiled. "That's okay, I guess everyone does it sometimes. You all want some tea?" Before they had a chance to answer she walked over to the edge of the enclosure and with a static buzz from the breached field reached through and grabbed a container, now full of water, that she had set out before the rain started. Within just a few minutes she had it boiling with a hand held torch and soon after everyone was clutching a hot cup. Of course the Doctor soniced and thoroughly inspected his before drinking it.

River looked at her watch and turned to Rory. "Well, chess master, we have time for that game we were talking bout."

Amy forgot they'd spent time this morning together, had she not been walking with River herself and getting to know her, she would have asked him about it.

"That is so cool! Okay, Amy, we're getting one of these, too."

Amy looked down to see River's handheld positioned between her and Rory, with a hologram hovering above it in the form of a traditional chess board. Amy moved to sit next to him, and River explained. "It's easiest if you touch the piece you want to move from underneath." And showed them. "Do you know the rules?"

"Yeah, Amy remember? Me and Mels played a lot when we were kids. But it was speed chess. And a long time ago. I'm a bit out of practice."

River gave him a smile. "Well go then, your move first."

The Doctor, who had long since grown antsy and was pacing, looking at the sky for a sign of some relent from the rain, immediately turned his attention to the game. He still continued his pacing, this time walking between the others at the holographic board and the far end of their shelter.

Rory had not made three moves before the Doctor peered over them. He shook his head, gave a half smile to River and walked away. On his next trip over to the board, Rory had his finger under the board and was about to move. "Are you sure about that, Rory?"

Rory looked at the board, and replied, "Yes, I think so." He made his move.

River smiled. "Maybe you should listen to your fidgety friend's advice." She then took his queen, which he foolishly left exposed. They were just seven moves into the game.

"Damn!" Rory furrowed his brow, coming up with a plan of action.

The Doctor came back to the three, and looked again at the board. "You have two choices, Rory. Use your next move to counter her attack, or put her on the defensive. Either way you must have a plan. She's only a few moves away from winning, you know." Rory was thoughtful and reached toward the bishop. In response the Doctor sucked a sharp breath through his teeth.

Rory looked up at him, frustrated. "Doctor, if you want to play, then by all means."

"Yes, Doctor, you don't strike me as the type to stand by and see your friends defeated." She gave a coy smile to Rory, and a looked up at the Doctor with the same smile, but with challenge in her eyes.

Following came a battle of wits the likes Amy had never seen. The Doctor didn't bother sitting but bent down with each move. River would counter him with more haste at each move, and soon had him hovering over the board. Amy at first thought it was a bad idea for them to go head to head in a strategy game, but they began laughing and smiling, even childishly flirting, gloating in good nature with each captured piece. The game moved so quickly, even Rory seemed to have trouble following. Each response from the other was faster than the last, and at one point they began slapping each other's hands away, laughing. Finally there were three pieces on the board, the Doctor had his knight and king(the knight being the only piece he had moved the entire time he was playing), and River had only her king left. They paused and looked at each other, both with shining eyes from their excited and friendly duel. Then they exploded into movement again, with the Doctor chasing down and taking her King in a few moves.

"Good game Doctor! You beat me despite giving me a handicap, though."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She responded with a knowing smile. "Then we'll play again. Or better, you can help me beat the computer, I haven't been able to yet. It'll be fun."

He looked at her with his crooked smile. "Yes I can assure you we'll play again sometime."

Amy then noticed just a mere sprinkle of drops falling on their shelter. "Hey you guys, sorry to spoil the fun but the rain is stopping."

At that they all got up and began packing, River deactivating the field generator last, just as the rain stopped.

"Oh no. Rory, can you pack up that generator, I forgot to give word to Sulivan." And she walked a few steps off and used her handheld to radio him. She held it to her ear like a mobile phone. I guess some things never change, Amy thought to herself.

River, making no effort to hide her side of the conversation, calmly updated Sulivan on their progress. Watching the Doctor, Amy could see him attempting to listen to the other side of the conversation from where he stood. He broke into a slight smile and turned to Amy, whispering. "She's in trouble. But there's something else."

"Yes Sulivan, may I amplify you so the others can hear? Hold on." She walked over to the three, held her small computer out and pressed a button. "Okay, they're listening."

Sullivan's voice came across clearly. "Hello, Doctor?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"We have good news; the timing of your little jog has turned out to be excellent. We found our first key piece of information today and it's an audio diary of the farmer who lived at the location we've been searching. Some of it's corrupted, but we are getting enough off of the memory chip to really get somewhere. I'll be keeping you updated as we learn more, but it looks like a relocation of base camp is imminent."

River was worried. "Sulivan, in my tent…'

"Don't worry, I've already attended to your things. But you're all doing alright? Hannah said you're having to hike in?"

River looked at the three with wide eyes, forgetting that Sulivan had no idea they knew her real name.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her childish deceit. "Yes, Hannah's been very helpful, but we are presently not getting very far concerning the walk." River mouthed a thank you to him.

Sulivan replied, "Ha ha, right, well, keep me posted. And be careful. I'll send you our new coordinates." He ended the transmission.

River gave an itch behind her ear and addressed everyone. "Well, that's a step in the right direction. Shall we?" Without even a look to the others she walked off, her nose buried in her handheld.

Amy chuckled at River's presumption and looked to Rory. "Shall we?" She said, mocking her.

He smiled and gave her a sarcastic, low bow, sweeping his arm in River's direction "No, after you milady."

The Doctor laughed and joined him, mockingly bowing. "Yes your highnesses, I beckon you two go forth and tread the way before us common knaves."

Amy shook her head, "You're the one who was shamelessly flirting with that teenager back there."

He was oblivious. "What? That was one of the best games I've had in a long time."

She smiled, "Yeah I bet." Shaking her head again she proceeded after River. Amy was really starting to like her and was glad the Doctor and she seemed to be better getting along. They were so strange together, neither seemed to hold a grudge(she was quite proud of the Doctor because not letting things go is one of his faults) and both seemed to be able to get over the fact that they were obviously hiding things from each other. River didn't even question when the Doctor said she was 'always capable.' As far as River is supposed to know, they've just met.

But in her short time spent with River, Amy found herself more and more at ease...even familiar. They could be good friends. Maybe they will be someday, she thought.

What neither realized was that they were friends, and grew up together. Fortunately, it's impossible to properly condition an assassin who keeps escaping to live with the people she's being programmed to kill.


	7. Chapter 7

Another kilometer of walking brought the group to a canyon, which stretched before them. The Doctor and River conferred together over her map, and felt the path of least resistance would be along the crevice. As they progressed River started to get worried that they would bypass their destination if they continued to follow their present path, but the direction they needed to go was atop a plateau, 25 feet above their heads.

River, standing next to the Doctor who was looking at her handheld (of course she did not let him get ahold of it, he had to view it from her grasp) scanned the Cliffside for an easy way up.

"Well, there is one option. I'll climb up and take a look, maybe I'll see an easier way that you all can take."

The Doctor didn't like the idea. "That's high, isn't it? Too dangerous. We'll find another way."

River was confused. "Why do you care? It's my neck. And plus this is what I do." And before he could argue she was nearly out of his reach up the cliff wall, with her pack still on. Great. I can't believe I'm reduced to babysitting complete insanity, he thought to himself. If only he knew what many of his companions thought about him.

He looked to Rory and motioned him over, and they both stayed underneath her to hopefully catch her should she fall.

Amy noticed them both quite captivated by the view. "Hey boys, you want me to take a picture? It'll last longer, you know."

Rory replied with an innocent shrug of his shoulders, and the Doctor replied with a dirty look. He never pays attention to such things as the physical attributes of his companions. Well River wasn't a companion, really. He shook his head, frustrated. He probably needed a vacation or something. Space Florida, here we come. Again. But yes, Amy was being ridiculous.

And for her to infer that he was flirting with River! She was just a kid. But he did get caught up in that chess game; she had him using a great deal of his mental resources, especially with him using just one piece against her. They had a good working energy and it wasn't often that he was truly challenged and enjoying himself at the same time.

But they have yet to deal with the proverbial elephant; the fact that both of them are lying through their teeth to each other at every turn. Neither was prepared to deal with the repercussions, though, so they just kept doing it. How mutually dysfunctional. This was new ground for him. But at his age, different is good, right?

River was now at the top and had not died (and erased existence). She was quickly out of sight, probably surveying the area. Soon they saw her head peek over the edge of the cliff. "Well, the mountains are ahead in this direction, but there isn't an easy way up for a kilometer or so. Up ahead is a wall with more handholds. I think you all should be able to handle it. It's not as steep either."

They continued up ahead and saw River hanging at the top, a few feet down, affixing what appeared to be a bolt into the top of the cliff. She reached down to her belt where there was now affixed a rope, which she ran through the eyehole of the bolt, throwing both ends down to them. "Tie the other packs on the end and send them up first, it'll make the climb easier and test the bolt."

They sent the packs up to River, who threw the end of the rope back to them with a carabiner now affixed to the end with a basic climbing harness attached. She yelled down again, "Amy can put that on if she's worried, you two keep hold of that rope for her in case she slips." After that, the Doctor began wondering what kinds of things River THOUGHT about bringing but decided not to.

Amy and Rory made it to the top with no problems with the help of coaching from River. The Doctor, though, gave her an icy look when she started telling him to put his hands here or there. She chuckled, but wisely lay off him.

It was not long before they came across something quite unusual. It was odd crystal formations settled into the rock. It looked like quartz, but some of the crystals were the size of a grown man. The first formation they came to, the Doctor asked everyone to stay back. Of course River remained closely behind him, the Doctor just assumed she would not categorize herself as 'everyone' and expected her to follow. Which made him a little peeved. He never put such value in strangers, and he was constantly having to remind himself of what an obnoxious kid she was. He didn't want to like her, and he didn't want to need her, but they would have been up a creek without a paddle at every turn had she not been there. She was just so darn useful, the same thing that got his attention the first time he met her. He tried not to think about the fact that it was also the day she died.

Together they analyzed the formation, he with his screwdriver, and she with her handheld. It was odd, he could feel heat energy being sucked past him toward the crystals. "What's the chemical make up you're getting, River?"

"Doctor, this is really strange. I think it's ice!"

He bent over her shoulder to look at the readings from her scan. "That's impossible; ice doesn't crystallize in this type of formation. Plus, it's not cold enough for ice to form."

"But it is cooler here, Doctor, at least a couple degrees."

"No, more like 3.6. The atmosphere shields keep it constant, Right?"

"Well, they are supposed to. If you noticed the absence of wind, that's why." She had a puzzled expression. "This is a type of molecule I have never seen, it's silicon and oxygen, but hydrogen too. Doctor, it's like rock ice or something."

"Rock ice isn't very exciting. You better think of something catchier, this may be your first scientific discovery." River raised an eyebrow gave him a puzzled smile. He continued. "Now let's see, what could be causing this stuff to spring out of the ground on a lifeless planet. It has to be growing through a reaction with the air…"

"Maybe it's a tool," Rory interjected. The Doctor and River looked at each other, and then over to Rory.

"I mean you said that something was using heat and sucking the energy around here. Maybe this is it."

The Doctor was thoughtful. "Rory, I think your patronage of bad science fiction literature is beginning to pay off."

River began busying herself with the new lead. "Doctor, why don't you give me a minute to go over some of these geological maps. If they picked up unidentified veins they may be this material, and likely lead to whatever is causing this."

"Very good you two. Rory, you're brilliant. River, you're brilliant." He clapped Rory on the shoulder, and did the same to River. But he could not ignore the ripple of her muscles beneath his hand, contracting in reflex to his touch. His eyes narrowed almost imperceptively behind his friendly smile, and saw River give him a tight lipped smile in return, and again buried her nose in her small computer. Okay, he thought, there is definitely something going on with this young woman, and it may go far beyond the petty deceits and spy games.

Abruptly, he felt a twinge of energy that made him uncomfortable. Call it ESP, or a 6th sense, or single specimen evolution. But in the past couple centuries he has been able to perceive things quite unexplainably. And his hearts clenched.

Amy.

And as on cue, the three heard Amy's screams from behind a large outcropping.


	8. Chapter 8

Leaving their packs behind, the three ran around the outcropping to the source of the screams and found no Amy. They did find a large sink hole, its inky depths a sure indicator as to what happened.

"Amy!" Rory yelled and bolted toward the hole

River gave a quick look at the Doctor. He took Rory's arm, firmly holding him back as River cautiously crept toward the sinkhole. She stayed in low prose, ready to jump to stable ground should she feel any instability near the hole's edge.

Rory gave an angry look up to the Doctor, who said in a warning tone, "Be careful Rory, she needs you." And he gently released his arm as Rory realized the Doctor was right. Acting thoughtlessly could make a bad situation worse.

"Amy?" River called over the edge. "Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

"Amy?" Rory called again, closer to the edge than the Doctor, but giving a wide berth so as not to compromise River should the ground fail.

They heard the welcome sound of coughs from down below. River called again. "Amy, don't move, we'll come down. But tell us if you're hurt."

More coughs. Then, barely audible, the three heard, "Wow, that was stupid. Yeah, I think I'm okay."

Rory called from where he was standing, "Amy, just don't move, I'm coming down." He ran back to where they had been standing near the crystals, and hefting all three packs, retrieved them to the Doctor and River. The two were now conferring away from the edge.

"Doctor, I'm quite sure that although you demand we call you a doctor, either Rory or I know far more about medicine. One of us will go down."

"I'm going." River and the Doctor ceased their argument to see Rory going through his pack and taking out the climbing harness.

"See," River looked up to the Doctor. "That settles it." And he conceded. The Doctor had no business attempting to bar a man from aiding his wife.

River had Rory set up to rappel to the bottom within a few minutes. For having never done it before, the Doctor and River were impressed by his courage, and he had no hesitation in going over the ledge. But he was just a meter from the bottom of the hole, which as it turned out was a large cave, when the bolt failed. He dropped the last few feet and nearly fell on Amy. As he suspected, she ignored their order to not move.

"Are you all right, Rory?" he heard River call from above.

"Yeah." He replied, and looked to Amy. "You weren't supposed to move." She helped him to his feet and he dusted himself off, coughing.

"I'm fine. Definitely gonna feel it in the morning though." And she stretched her bruised shoulder, and looked up. "It's only about 5 meters."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I saw the hole and walked over to look inside. The next thing I knew I was falling. I guess I just got dizzy or something."

He smiled and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're all right. I did NOT want to carry you back to the TARDIS. And stay away from ledges from now on, okay?" He tenderly checked her hairline for injury.

She smiled and kissed his cheek, "Of course, you're always worrying."

"Well, we have a big problem, now."

Amy gave a questioning look. And Rory held up the limp rope that had been attached far above. "Oh."

The two looked up and heard arguing from the up on the surface. Rory sighed. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable as the two generals decide what to do with us."

But suddenly the arguing ceased and they heard River at the ledge. "Rory, if you tie the broken bolt to the end of the rope, can you throw it up here?"

"Uhh, yeah. Hold on." He promptly did as was asked, and River pulled the remainder of the rope back. Within a minute or two they received two packs, Rory's and the small pack Amy had been carrying, now filled with more provisions, flashlights, and a handheld similar to River's. It began beeping, and on the screen he could see an incoming transmission. He touched where it said "accept."

River's voice came through the speaker clearly. "Okay, is Amy all right? Can she continue on?"

Amy replied, "Yes, I'm fine. Luckily."

"Good. Well although I feel it's a terrible idea, the Doctor doesn't think me capable of hoisting you up here safely although I've done this countless times..."

They heard some shuffling, and then the Doctor's voice, annoyed. "Oh just listen. From the maps there seems to be an underground network of caves that surfaces about a kilometer further near our destination. With the map I sent to your computer you should be able to easily meet us there through the pathways. You will be in constant communication with us, as well as have the homing device River added to your bag. Is this something you two feel up to?"

Rory looked to Amy, who shrugged. He replied into the handheld. "Yeah. We'll be fine. And we'll look out for any more of those crystals and let you know."

"I know I can count on you, Rory. If you have any questions or problems, call us immediately. If you get lost, we should be able to guide you out since we'll know your location. It should take about an hour but we'll see you on the surface."

"Okay, I'll let you know if we have any problems, but looking at this map it should be pretty easy."

"Alright, we'll see you in about an hour." And at that the transmission ended.

Rory looked up to Amy. "Well you ready or you want to rest a minute?" In his opinion, she looked a little beat up. But she was tough.

"Nah, lets get going. I've never been cave exploring before."

"Me neither." After they put on their packs he handed her a light and turned in the direction indicated by the map. Their lights illuminated a hole in the side of the cave, as it showed there would be. With another look to each other, they ventured forward away from the light and into the depths.

* * *

The Doctor made River feel like her head was going to explode. She was never one to beg, but she found herself almost pleading with him to not let Amy and Rory go on this amateur spelunking trip. It was the most dangerous and insane idea imaginable. He had absolutely no idea. The possibilities for problems were endless. And now she has Sulivan yelling in her ear about them marching to what appears to be the source of some unknown, deadly virus.

She had never been distrusted to this extent, at least in her trained skills. So the bolt broke. Not her fault. Plus they could use her scanner to check the other ones. It was so dumb.

She had never been so…so…frustrated as she was with this man. And the fact that he was dark, moody, and mumbly made it all the worse. Since her audiovisual monitor was removed, she'd ventured into romance when she could, but nothing serious. One, she didn't have the time and had to stay sneaky about it, and two, how serious can you get with a guy if you have to lie about EVERYTHING. And three, she couldn't even be honest with herself, memories of her past were a nightmare to make sense of. It was like she was a stranger on assignment in her little free time. But she definitely had a type, and unfortunately this ridiculous man was it. Although a bit old for her. Oh yeah and absolutely insane.

She shook her head and looked at him, up ahead on the path. She'd finally given up on hoarding her equipment and he was holding up her handheld, with a whip of his head moving the windblown hair from his eyes. He began hitting the side of it, and then got out his screwdriver thing and attempted to use it. First he commandeers her computer and now he is unscrewing it or something!

"Hey! What are you doing? That's my only one now, and it's got my personal stuff on it." She tried to snatch it from his grasp and was surprised by his quick reflex as he moved it out of her reach.

He continued walking and rolled his eyes. "Oh don't worry; I'm just optimizing the memory chip to make it run faster. And believe me I have no interest in your personal information."

Her eyes narrowed as she kept pace with him. "Seriously, I don't want to have to explain why or how it broke, okay? Just leave it alone. Please." Why does she find herself being so damn honest with him?

He paused, looked at her, almost into her, and handed it back. "Here. But you have to start trusting me if we are going to work together."

River stopped in her tracks, jaw dropped. This guy can't be serious. "ME trust YOU? Tell, me DOCTOR, if that's what you really are, why should I possibly trust you? There's no way you're a medical doctor, and no university is giving out PhD's in weirdness, at least that I know of. And what's your name? If you won't even tell me that, what reason have I for trusting you? Apart from you having just sent your companions on an underground death march against my educated and valuable advice?"

He turned around and met her toe to toe. She had to fight the urge to step back as he entered her personal space. "Educated and valuable? You nearly killed Rory. We've done enough mountaineering for one trip, thank you."

"I swear you have to be the most crotchety twenty-something I've ever met. I'm starting to believe Amy when she says you're older than you look!"

The Doctor gave her a weighted look. She could see he was having the same thoughts as her about honesty. "Okay. Amy's right; I'm nearly a thousand years old."

River gave him an incredulous expression, and a slow smile formed on her lips. "No way!"

He walked on. "Okay, fine, don't believe me. I could care less."

Goodness he's like a big baby, she thought. She shook her head and caught up to him. "No, I believe you. I mean, why would you lie about something like that? I know you're not human, and it takes a long time to develop those mad chess skills." She received a quirky smile, eyes hooded by his dark hair. She smiled back.

"I had fun though."

"Me too." She then became sober. "But I can't trust you until you answer one question for me. Well two questions. How do you know me, and why don't you like me? Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm one of those needy teenagers who's starved for acceptance or anything. But I keep getting the feeling that we've a history that I don't know about. Some of the things you've said lead me to believe that it…it's just confusing." Her face showed her confusion as she looked up at him for an answer.

He stopped, and put his hands on her shoulders and she again suppressed her reflex to step away from his approach. He searched her eyes, willing his words to make sense. "River, much of this doesn't make sense to me either, and those are questions I cannot answer now. The only way to explain it is that I'm supposed to know you, but don't. You don't know me yet, but you will. And you'll find out that when we mess around with the universe long enough it starts messing around with us. That's what I think is going on here."

She looked back at him, still confused. He was right; it still didn't make sense to her. But she saw such truth in his eyes, and something else she couldn't identify. It was like she could see straight to his heart, and know he was good. It made her want to trust him, and go with him. And finish this. She was trained to identify a Mesmer, a liar, a cheat, a talker. But he was none of these. She did think that perhaps he was clairvoyant, she noticed him react to Amy's scream before it happened. And that could also explain how he could know her without knowing her. But the declaration of his age still didn't match up with what Sullivan told her. She was content regardless, and more prepared to work alongside him.

Giving him a thoughtful nod, she walked off. "Okay, I believe what you say. There is more in the universe than we can ever hope to understand, and can spend a lifetime attempting to, failing to actually live in the meantime."

"Who said that?"

She stopped and looked back to him, her head cocked with an impatient look on her face. "I just did. Do your one thousand year old ears need a hearing aid or something?" And at that she turned and continued on.

The Doctor merely shook his head and chuckled to himself, following after her.


	9. Chapter 9

Cave exploring stopped being fun for Amy around the fourth or fifth time she nearly fell on her face. She and Rory tried many walking arrangements to facilitate a successful trek, and it worked best if he was 3 meters or so in front of her, illuminating his path, and she behind him relighting it after.

She was pretty sure this was a bad idea after she nearly fell off the ledge into what was probably a bottomless pit. And then gave herself what would likely be a black eye on an outcropped rock. Funny, this cave had no cool formations she had seen in pictures. Rory said he thought it was because the planet stayed frozen, and they are usually formed by dripping water. It was cold, dark and boring.

"Rory, how much further?"

"You know you asked that 5 minutes ago."

"Yeah, how much further?"

"Umm about a half kilometer."

"Uugh why is this taking so long?"

"Maybe because you keep tripping on rocks."

"Maybe because I nearly fell to my death an hour ago."

Rory stopped short. "Okay that's it. We are stopping to rest. Maybe you need to eat or something." He swung off his pack and placed the flashlight on the ground, facing up and reflecting white light off the ceiling of the tunnel they were following.

"You know I can handle myself perfectly well without you thinking you have to remind me of things," She stated indignantly as she snatched the protein bar Rory held out to her. She took off her small pack and sat down, unwrapped the bar and absent-mindedly began eating it.

"That's why you've lost weight since you've been traveling with him, I think. He is skinny as a rail too. My guess is the two of you go days not remembering to eat."

She looked down at herself. "You think so?"

"Yes. You know there're so many ways this travelling messes with your head. About your reality, about yourself. It's like I find myself constantly having to step back to keep in mind the bigger picture. I don't think I could do it without you here, worrying about you, how you feel, if you might get hurt. " He smiled and nodded to her, "if you're hungry. I know you hate it but I can't imagine not fussing over you. And you could unlock the secrets of the universe; take me anywhere I could imagine. But it would mean nothing to me if it weren't with you."

Amy just stared at him, her brow furrowed, her eyes watered. And she broke into a slight smile. She was pretty sure if the ground wasn't rock and her body didn't feel like it had gone through a ringer she would be jumping him right now. Instead she reached over and took his face in her hands. "I hate being fussed over," she whispered.

He pulled her the rest of the way to him and kissed her thoroughly on the mouth. They broke apart, and he whispered against her mouth, "No, you really don't mind it." He smiled and kissed her again. She kissed him more deeply this time, communicating that he was right. But also something he already knew: that attempting to reveal the secrets of Amy Pond's soul was treading in dangerous territory. They were secrets for him only to know.

Amy was brought out of their moment by a flash in the corner of her eye. She pulled away from Rory to look to her right, where the light had come from.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, I just thought I saw something. Over there." She pointed to the far wall to their right.

Rory picked up his light and got up. He took her hand and helped her up, and they both walked to where she had been pointing. He scanned the wall with his light to find nothing but rock. Then at a high crack they caught a glimmer of reflection, the shining of a liquid substance seemingly seeping from behind the rock.

"That's weird, what is that?" Rory said as he instinctively reached out to it.

"No, don't touch it Rory!" But she was too late; he already had a sample of it on his finger, working it between his thumb and forefinger underneath the light. "Rory! What are you, daft? We have no idea what that is!"

"OH." He looked down at his hand. "That was stupid. Hmm. But it's kind of oily, like it's not evaporating. It's also kind of cold to the touch. And what color does that look like? Blue? I wonder if we should bring some of this back up to the Doctor. Do you think we should tell him?"

Before Rory had even finished his short monologue Amy had the Doctor on the other end.

"Yes, Amy? Are you coming along?"

"Doctor, we found something down here. It is some sort of stuff coming from the rocks. It's blue, at least in this light."

"Huh. Well don't touch it."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Yeah tell that to Rory. He's fine though."

Rory interjected. "It feels oily and kind of cold, if that makes sense."

"Not sure if it does yet. If you touched it and it's oily, there may be some left on your hands for River to analyze. We see you're half way here. The rest should be easy. There are some large caverns up ahead of you."

They heard River in the background. "Don't forget to tell them to stay to the right…"

"Yes, yes." the Doctor said with a sigh, "There will be a large room just before you break through to the surface. Stay to the right." And obviously to River, "There, are you happy now?"

Amy grew impatient. "Fine. We'll get going, I'm getting tired of it being so dark in here. We'll let you know if we see anything else strange."

"Very well, see you soon Amy, Rory." And the transmission ended.

Amy let out a short breath. "Well I guess we should keep on. I was serious about wanting to get out of here."

"Yeah I'm starting to feel the same way," Rory replied with a wary look to the substance seeping from the wall. They both turned and gathered their things, Amy taking the remainder of her bar in one hand and her light in the other, and proceeded on with Amy now in the lead.

After about 10 minutes of eventless walking, Rory, looking down to stuff the wrapping of a finished energy bar in his pocket, bumped into Amy, who had stopped at the entrance of an enormous room. "Arg watch it! Who knows how far down it is.

"Sorry."

"She said stay to the right,yeah?" They shone their lights around the immense cavern. Clearly the path to the right was passible, but shining a light down the beams were lost in the darkenss. "I wonder how far down it goes."

"Well one way to find out." Rory bent down and picked up a cold rock and hefted it momentarily. He gave a look at Amy who nodded in agreement that it would be kind of cool to hear it fall. "Here it goes."

And they listened, and listened. And heard a deep growl. They shared a stunned look. They heard another growl.

"Amy, we need to Run!"

"I couldn't agree more!"

* * *

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Sullivan thought as he hastily exited the tan permanent structure that had a few hours ago become his housing unit and office. He was still buttoning his robes as he stopped a hazardous materials technician dressed in full protective gear sans helmet.

"Are you guys set up over there now?"

The young man stopped in his tracks and faced Sullivan. "Yes, sir. We have the containment area secured and personnel scanning everything we can dig up."

"Good. Carry on."

The young man paused, uncertain. "Uhh, sir?"

"Yes, spit it out, boy."

"The university people seem pretty upset about this. They keep asking questions."

"Let me handle them, thanks for the heads up, and get to your post. We need everyone right now."

"Yes sir." The young man turned and promptly continued on his way.

Sullivan shook his head and continued in the direction of the lab. Great. Now he had academic egos to deal with. If they are up in arms now, just wait until they initiate Green, he thought. He'll probably have them chasing him across the galaxy for this one, if it comes down to that.

He continued on a fairly short distance to his destination, the data lab, and opened the tent flap to a frenzy of activity. They were well set up for having just been relocated, although it contributed to the chaos. Almost immediately a supervisor approached him.

"Sir, I don't have much more for you than what I just sent you. But it seems we hit the mother lode."

"Yes, you said you got the medical files."

"Yes, and we're piecing them together as we speak. As soon as we realized the colony's lab storage area was ground zero for mass infection, we took immediate action. We're just now finding out exactly what happened. But it looks like the infection started with those who were exposed to the area where the equipment was found, or the equipment itself. We're not sure if the others who were later infected got it from the equipment itself or the infected individuals. Once we have a clear indication of incubation time, we'll know more."

"Shit." Sullivan verbalized finally what they had all been thinking. They knew an agent was out there.

"We're working as fast as we can."

Sullivan soberly patted the man's back. "I know."

"Sirs!" A young man's voice rose across the room. It was Brighton, one of his seasoned field agents. He had been pulled from his undercover post as a university student and brought over to help with the data analysis. Sullivan and the lab supervisor promptly crossed to him. "I've got something here. It looks like the ones who initially came back with the equipment were sick just a few days after initial exposure. The lab personnel who were exposed to them and the recovered equipment were then sick a few days after that. The next account of anyone getting sick was not for a little more than a week later. I think River may be OK as long as she doesn't come onto contact with whatever it is and comes right back. It seems to be communicable by direct exposure to something in or on the equipment, but not communicable from host to host for about a week. And it's also safe to assume the incubation period is shorter from direct exposure than from exposure to an infected individual. But if anything it indicates that it's definitely not airborne, at least not at the source. We've got a lot more data to go through before we can theorize about host to host transmission, but the important thing is that we should all be OK if we are not in direct contact with whatever this stuff is."

Sullivan furrowed his brow, thinking. "That's assuming a lot agent. But that gives us more to go on now." He turned to the lab supervisor. "How's the containment team coming with the excavation?"

"Last I heard fending off angry professors. May want to go check it out."

"I will but I have to stop by my quarters to check on my agent." He clasped his hand on the young man's shoulder sitting down at the console. "Good job, Brighton."

"Thanks, sir." And without another word Sulivan quickly walked out of the tent, and failed to see the worry on the face of the young agent. Although they were not told about each other, he and River had intuitively known without introduction that they were both agents, and observed each other from afar. He hoped she made it through, he had heard about her, and saw she was a good agent. Buckling down he got back to his display, he would do his darndest to help get the young agent back okay.


	10. Chapter 10

The Doctor and River had a steady climb up to the mouth of what looked from below like an overhang. The Doctor knew from the maps, however, that it was the mouth of a cave that eventually led down to the passage where they would meet Amy and Rory, and hopefully find the source of their strange discoveries. With these crystals that seem to harvest energy, and this strange substance, they should be able to get somewhere after they put their samples together. Then figure out what's going on, deposit River, and be gone. Simple, he thought.

As they entered the cave and pulled out their lights, the Doctor realized that telling himself how simple the whole situation was seemed to keep making it worse. They illuminated the strange metal and electronic controls of the odd pieces of abandoned equipment left for millennia, and River let out a short gasp. "Don't touch any of it Doctor." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she knew that he didn't. It was then he saw her scratch behind her ear. And he figured it out. "We've found the equipment cache," she said seemingly to him, but not. He heard a slight noise, the excited report likely from Sullivan being transmitted directly to her ear.

It was one thing to lie to him, betray him, but his enemies learn quickly that there were a few things he would not tolerate. First was being backed into a corner, and second was putting his friends at needless risk through deceit. His mind raced with thoughts of how much it would hurt her to just yank it out of her ear. At one time he would have done it without a second thought, despite that it would permanently damage her hearing. What could he say? She seemed to bring out the worst in him, but he was old enough now to see this and rise above it. At least so far.

He watched her a moment, she was lost in whatever was being relayed to her, and he saw her face change. He had seen that look before. They were in real danger. No more games, River.

She looked up to see a Time Lord not to be trifled with slowly approaching. Her jaw went slack as she took in two dangerous stimuli simultaneously; Sullivan telling her that they are standing at the source of some unknown and deadly pathogen, and the piercing dark eyes of a pissed off Doctor. She instinctively backed away from his approach with a pleading expression on her now flushed face. He backed her into the wall, and leaned down, his mouth nearly on her right ear, the one without the com patch. "River, turn off the transmission and run it through your computer. Now." His breathless whisper was deceivingly calm, and as he pulled away he found her face close to his, she having turned her head toward him. She looked up at him, conflicted, and then to the ground, taking half her lip in her mouth. Resolved, she looked back up at him and with the pleading expression from before shook her head no.

Just as he was about to lean over to her other ear and yell 'RIVER!' as loud as he could, he realized she was offering him her left ear. She was still so foolish as to maintain this facade and protect herself from reprimand, but he would take this compromise, for now. He pressed his ear to hers, with his left hand splayed at the base of her skull holding her to him. He pretty much heard everything he needed to, about the ancient exploration party, the massive infection, about how it spread, about how the infectious material was picked up from the strange abandoned equipment. The whole time River's tanned, defined jaw under his palm, and her warm sticky breath on the side of his neck went consciously ignored.

And then Sulivan mentioned Solution Green. "River, it looks imminent. You should plant the homing chip and get yourselves out of there ASAP. I have to attend to the lab, we've more data to go through, and we may find a sample of this stuff yet. Just stay away from that equipment. I'll get back to you if I learn more. Be careful, I want you back safe. Out."

The Doctor's hand flexed on her neck before pulling away from her, but that was the only indication of any frustration toward her. He'd assumed the whole time it would come down to this. Well not THIS, but that River would be hiding something and he'd have to deal with her. As angry as he was, it wasn't anything he hadn't come to expect. But he was going to get the truth out of her and it wouldn't be pretty.

She looked at him evenly as she slowly turned off her com patch with a finger behind her ear. She knew what was coming next. The Doctor asked straightforwardly, "River, what's Solution Green?"

"I can't tell you Doctor."

"What's Solution Green?" He repeated, his eyes piercing her through his dark forelock.

She looked at him almost pleading. "Please, I can't tell you." She instinctively countered around him to give herself more room.

He turned to face her. "Why? If I said I would strike you down, would your outstanding tendency toward self preservation outweigh your sense of duty to these people? What of your duty to us?" He started walking toward her again.

"No. Wait, what duty to you?"

"Well, you go to great lengths to withhold the truth about us knowing you, but you won't tell me what you've involved us in. Do your loyalties lie with them who you are deceiving or to us whom your deceits have put in danger?"

"I…I don't know." He noticed her eye twitch.

"You don't know or you don't care?" He continued to approach her, not intimidating her, but applying slight pressure.

"I care. I really do, I care about all of you. But I can't disobey an order."

"Again, why not?" She looked at him with such conflict, he could see a battle waging inside her head. The Doctor's eyes narrowed. They really have screwed with her, he thought. "All right," he said, resigned. "Hand me your computer. I'll ask Sulivan myself." And he reached for it, still in her hand.

She held it out of the way and turned from him, "No, he'll find out you know, of course."

And then the Doctor made what was about the tenth mistake of this particular adventure. He reached out and grabbed River's arm. And seemingly out of nowhere, a fury broke loose.

One thing not many know about the Doctor is that when in physical danger his perception slows down, making time to everyone around him speed up. This enables him to dodge even the most skilled advances. Except when he doesn't see them coming. And not yet has he really seen River coming, the subsequent attack being no exception.

Before he knew what happened, River had her handheld pistol-whipped across his face and his feet swept from beneath him. Face up on his back, the next thing he saw was she above him, astride his torso with her hand cocked back ready to administer what he assumed was a death blow to his head. He was confused just a fraction of a second, until he put it all together. As he looked up into her vacant eyes, he knew she was seeing nothing but the pressure points that existed in his head's anatomy. He had unveiled a part of her subconscious mind that was now in control, calculating exactly how to administer the blow without damaging her hand on the rock beneath him. He skillfully escaped her hold on him just as her hand began its decent into his skull and was able to have her completely countered within seconds, now astride her. Using all his strength he pinned her down as she struggled beneath him. As he hovered above her, he was reminded of the rabid Ood. He tried not to think about the torture and horrors that they were submitted to that caused them to elicit such a response. What have they done to you, poor River, he thought as his hearts bled empathy.

Then, all at once, her face relaxed and her eyes closed. And just as a seasoned animal master would, the Doctor read in her that the fight was over; that whatever was in her that caused her aggression was again tucked away. The Doctor was sure she had only vague memory of what had just happened. She opened her eyes, and he could see confusion, remorse, and a hint of apathy.

Still leaning over her, he released her wrist he had been restraining and slowly took the computer, still in her hand. He looked down at her youthful face; she could care less now about Sulivan, Solution Green, the ISSA, and this entire mission. She had just lost all control and tried to kill her new friend. She looked up into his eyes, searching for answers. She noticed the red mark on his cheek, swelling a little.

"Oh dear, you're hurt." She tentatively reached up to him with a slightly shaking hand, setting his neurons on fire as her fingers grazed the hot flesh where she'd just hit him. "I…I'm so sorry." And she turned her head to the side, away from him, again apathetic. A single tear battled a path down her flushed cheek.

The Doctor gave pitying look down at her. Unable to formulate a fitting response, he released her and rose. She stayed sitting on the ground, still processing what had happened. Giving them both space he began inspecting the equipment, keeping his distance from the infected materials. But lost in thought.

Although he would have normally caught her hand as she made such an intimate gesture of touching his face, he did not. He told himself it was because he was afraid she might go nuts on him again, but he realized that every terrible turn of this trip seemed to bring him closer to this young woman. He was fighting the urge to take her face in his hands, taste the salt of her tears on his lips, tell her of course you are forgiven, I know it's not your fault.

He often wondered about her presumption in the Library; he chided himself in remembering that day again. He remembered his shock, with what must have been a look of wonder on his face as she gazed at him, as he felt the warmth of her hands on his face. He shudders with the rememberance of her low sultry tones that shaped into his name, whispered in his ear. So strange, yet so familiar, like the interlocking pieces of a puzzle. Maybe he gives in. Maybe she becomes the wife of his future self.

River was silent a few minutes, and her voice eventually broke the cave's silence. "But what does this mean?" She continued their previous non-verbal conversation.

The Doctor pushed buttons on her handheld, having just scanned the surface of what looked like some sort or mining vehicle. "What? Oh. It means that my suspicions are correct. That there's a lot of stuff in that pretty head of yours that you don't know about, and that someone put there. I'm sure most of this agency that you're working for has no idea about either. I'm sorry I did that, but I didn't expect you to, well, you know, try to kill me."

"What exactly are you sorry about? I'm the one who's obviously a mess." She was still staring off into space.

"Pressuring you like that. I guess part of me wanted you to realize what I already knew. That your undying sense of duty, and now apparently other things, has been more or less brainwashed into you. But that directly conflicts with your natural tendency toward self preservation. The River I know is quite naturally self-serving. And if you are she then I knew there was some significant manipulation interrupting that. My guess is that there are some very deep blocks put in place within your head. Do you ever think things, or make decisions you don't understand? Know things and not know things at the same time? Ever feel like you're someone you're not?"

She shook her head and met his gaze. "Doctor, I don't like this. I think you all are in danger with me here."

"No, the only reason that happened was because I brought it out. There are likely triggers known only by those who did this to you." He bent down to her level and looked at her solemnly. "I promise I can help find out who it was and fix it, but right now I need your help, and Amy and Rory should be here soon." He stood and went back to scanning the room.

A few minutes passed and he looked over and saw her still sitting, still introspective. "River, get up. You'll have to trust me. Trying to make sense of it right now won't help, believe me." A few steps and an outstretched a hand to her. "Come on now."

She frowned. "I don't know why but I do trust you. I guess I don't have much choice." And she took his hand and accepted his help.

"Well I'm serious about helping you. There are a few things I hate more than people who hurt my friends, and that's people who hurt children. And you're my friend-child"

A slight smile broke on her face. "Thanks, I'd appreciate that, but I'm not exactly a child."

But that's when they started on you, my dear. Even the closest companions would have missed the sadness behind his eyes at his unvoiced thought.


	11. Chapter 11

River, as she always did, distracted herself with the work in front of her. "We need to get Amy and Rory out of here. We should tell them not to touch anything if they come across any stray equipment."

"Good idea." And just as the Doctor was sending a transmission to the pair, he received one from them. "Yes, are you two coming?"

It was static and garbled. "Doctor, Doctor, something is chasing us. I think we're close to you, just down the passage."

"Well what is it? Did you get a look at it? How do you know it wants to hurt you?" At that River and the Doctor heard the deep menacing Roar coming from the passage. "Uhh ok never mind saying hello, RUN and get here as fast as you can, do not look back."

He turned to River. "Do you still have that field generator?"

"Yes of course," and she was up and had it out of her pack before he got over to her, glad to have more distraction from what had just transpired.

"Excellent."

"Whatever it is, it sounds too big for this to be any help. This thing's just for climate adjustment."

"Haha not if we multiply the power output over a selected area." He said as he took it from her and somehow adjusted the settings with his sonic screwdriver. He tested it and it turned on, all its power focused in a small area.

She nodded to his screwdriver. "You know you'll have to get me one of those."

"Maybe when you're older," he replied, with a sideways smile.

River met his gaze and reciprocated with a half hearted smile. She was taken aback by the depths of understanding and forgiveness he was showing her. She was hardly processing what just happened herself...and here he was going on like nothing happened.

She took the generator from him and carefully placed it on the ground in front of the opening to the cave. She could hear Amy and Rory running, with something not far behind them. "Run, hurry!" She yelled in and stood to the side of the corridor.

As they ran through she couldn't be sure which of them knocked over the field generator, but in one reflexive movement she dove to the ground in front of the passage way and replaced it upright. For a split second she was face to face with what had been chasing Amy and Rory. It was a wall of blue liquid goo but with a face and arms. And those arms were reaching out for River as its roar became a high pitched scream.

In the same moment the Doctor activated the field generator with his sonic, effectively making the blue goo monster go splat, except for a puddle that was cut off from the rest of the monster as it was reaching for River. The puddle was on the ground still slowly moving toward her.

River sat up, and stunned looked around to a breathless Amy and Rory...and her stunned face slowly became a smile, beamed up to the Doctor, and began to laugh hysterically. "Close one eh?" She continued laughing and pointing as the Goo monster kept splatting angrily tying to enter the cave, its roars muffled and shaking the ground. "What? You upset bad boy?"

"Ok Doctor, she's a straight up psychopath." Amy freely voiced her observation.

"No look!" She pointed to the puddle still making it's way to her. "It's still coming! Trying to get me. It's ok little guy you'll make it!" She was still chuckling and played with moving her hand close to it, and seeing it drawn to her. "It looks to be drawn to my hand. Body heat?" She got up to get her handheld and returned to scan its chemical composition. All the while the rest of the monster on the other side of the force field could be seen and heard banging against it and roaring, still trying to get to them.

The Doctor gave a sideways glance to River and hurried over to Rory and Amy, "You have no idea. Are you two all right?"

"Yes," Amy replied, but rolled her eyes. "Rory touched the goo though."

Rory scoweled, "Hey I didn't know." He lifted up his hand for the Doctor to inspect.

"River, get over here," The Doctor yelled over his shoulder as he inspected Rory's hand and soniced it.

River quickly complied and grabbed Rory's hand and scanned it with her handheld. "Yes it's the same substance as what's composing the thing that was chasing you. Don't touch anything with this hand." And she hurried across the room to scan the equipment they now knew had been infected with a virus.

Rory followed River with his gaze. "Well so much for bedside manner. What is that thing Doctor?"

The Doctor replied, "My guess it's Some sort of reconstituted life form. Amy, gather our things, Rory, keep an eye on that field generator." And as he said that it reverberated with the muffled roar of the heat seeking monster on the other side. "Uhh let us know if it breaks though." And he quickly walked away, obviously worried that their reprieve would be more temporary than necessary.

"River, what are you finding. I hate to rush but your Goo friend isn't taking no for an answer."

"You know I get that a lot? We really need to give it a better name," She replied without looking up. "Goo friend just doesn't describe his temperament."

"Goobster...Ah, Gooblin?"

"We can work with that," she smirked.

He found himself resisting the habit of falling into her flirtatious banter and concously diverted from a dance that would have led he and his older River into playful...whatever bullshit it was going to lead to. Was it too much to ask that he consent to liking someone?

River met his eyes. "Doctor, I just don't know. This equipment shows no sign of any pathogen that my computer recognizes. But the sample from that creature does. It's showing an organic casing that I suppose is allowing it to animate when heated, and the warmer it gets the weaker that casing gets. You can see this sample that I cooled, and this sample that I heated." She brought up the comparison holographically above her handheld. Inside that casing is the virus they found in an insulated canister at the colony a couple hours ago."

"So is your superior listening in right now or do you need to call him and report." He was hoping this would irritate her. It would have irritated the River he knew. He was right, it did.

"Ugh no I don't want to talk to him until we have the right questions, and can give the right answers. There has got to be some link between this substance, this Goo creature and the virus that killed everyone in the Colony." She got up and crossed the room to where Rory was sitting. "Here Rory, give me your hand. This is going to hurt."

Rory remained steadfast, but gave her a questioning look, "Ok wait, what are you going to do?"

"You're going to be a test subject." And River held up the apparatus she'd used to heat the water for their tea earlier.

"Wait, What? Ow Ow! OW!" She held his hand still as she used it to burn the surface of his skin, and immediately flicked a switch and the fire was replaced with a frosty gas immediately freezing it. "Ow! Damn it!" He pulled his hand away with an angry and untrusting look to River. He looked between the Doctor and River for explanation. "What was that for?"

"Back here you." And she insensitively grabbed at his hand again.

"No!"

"Listen to her Rory." The Doctor reassured, and Rory did as told with an untrusting frown.

"Again, I'm sorry," River said with meaning, and scanned his now red and blistering fingers with her scanner. "I have my first aid equipment, I promise to get it healed up before we make it back."

The doctor took her scanner and looked at it, then soniced Rory's hand. "Beautiful. River I could hug you. No trace of the substance or the virus."

"Virus? What virus? And you still haven't told me what that," Amy motioned toward the passageway, "Thing is."

"Oh we're calling it a Gooblin now."

"Great. So it's made of a virus. Are we going to get sick or something? Wait is that what killed everyone in the colony?" She was more and more worried by her realization.

"Mmmmaybe?" The doctor answered.

River returned from her pack with what looked like a first aid kit. "Don't worry Amy. It looks like it's only in an infectious form when exposed to heat above 120 degrees, but then it's incredibly vulnerable to cold and more or less dies. I heated it up so it was vulnerable but immediately killed it. Rory, you'll be Ok but let's fix that hand, it's going to start hurting more unless we treat it."

"So It's been here for more than 3000 years?" Amy asked.

"Longer than that, Amy. Remember the moon was frozen for millions of years before the colonists arrived" The Doctor replied.

"And then I suppose it woke up once the planet thawed. I bet that was quite the surprise," River interjected as she finished Rory's bandage.

"So what? It went around attacking people? What does that have to do with a virus?"

"I'm not sure yet. But we know how to kill it, so that's good. There you go Rory. Again I'm really sorry."

"It's ok. Thanks for getting it off my hand." Rory replied and they shared a smile.

"Ms. Song, you know you're missing a key point about the infectious virus here?" The Doctor had River looking up with a challenged frown. "In discovering how to kill it, you discovered how to create it." He paused adding emphasis. "River, did the colonists have any incendiary weapons?"

She looked at him with a frown, "Well of course they did." And realization awoke across her face.

"River, you'd better call Sullivan."

As if on cue the Gooblin hit the invisible forcefield with a thud they could feel, eliciting the party's shared realization of the situation's deterioration. "Okay and we need to get the HELL out of here!" River stated the obvious as they quickly picked up the packs and ran out to the moon's surface.

As they hurried down the rocky embankment from the cave's mouth, River began yelling, "Damn it, answer! The one time I actually need you for something for God's sake!"

"Who is she talking to?" Rory gave a questioning look to the doctor.

"Oh it's a long story. River did you try on your handheld?" The doctor looked behind him at Amy, puffing behind them. "Amy, hurry along. Or else we will be doing mandatory cardio every morning from now on."

"Oh I'd like to see you try and make me." She shot back with a dirty look. Just then they heard a low growl echo across the rocky landscape, the Gooblin having finally broken through the passageway. Amy, with wide eyes instantly found stamina and was soon passing Rory.

"Doctor," Rory yelled over his shoulder, "We'll never outrun it back to the TARDIS."

The Doctor for once didn't reply, because it was a concern he had from the moment they trapped the thing behind the forcefield. And Like an answered prayer he heard River up ahead, and saw her head buried in her handheld.

"Yes! Yes Brighton! Yes Requesting extraction. Are you near the console? From Coordinates oh 965 dot 453" She stopped abruptly and held her hand out to stop the others behind her.

"To the TARDIS, Riv-hannah. Hannah!" The Doctor reminded her.

She turned around and have the Docotor an exasperated frown. "Yes, to the space ship. I left a homing Tag. Yes, it's smaller on the outside. You got us? Oh God, Brighton, you are amazing." She looked up at Amy, Rory and the Doctor. "Are you all ready?" Of course, she didn't wait for a response from her new friends. "Ok Go."

"Ready for wha-" and they disappeared in a flash of blue light.


	12. Chapter 12

They instantaneously materialized A few meters from the Tadris. Amy, having lost her balance was caught by Rory who himself was shaken.

The Doctor and River however hardly missed a stride and were running toward the TARDIS. River entered first, throwing her pack off by the door and then shedding her outer shell sending it flying as she ran up the stairs to the console, revealing a green tank top. The doctor was close at her heels.

"Oy! Make yourself at home why don't you. And River stop taking off your clothes."

"Well the first time I've gotten that request," the Doctor received the coy half smile she shot over her shoulder.

Again, he was forced to bite back a wholly inappropriate response, and was exacerbated. "We need to go NOW! Who knows what kind of speed it has when exposed to the surface temperature."

"OK then, how do we get this thing moving?" River started reaching here and there only to have her hands slapped away by the Doctor.

"Will you just stop." Reaching across her with a scowl he nudged her out of the way.

Amy burst into the TARDIS fuming, with a very shaken Rory behind her. "RIVER! Do NOT do that again! What was that? I feel like I got stuck in a light socket!"

River beamed down at them with a smile, taking in their frizzled appearance. "Welcome to the world of instantaneous transportation. You should try a vortex manipulator. There's a reason I have braids like this. It's…"

The Doctor's head shot up as he finished her sentence. "Hell on the hair." He flipped a lever on the console, his eyes unwavering and heavy upon her.

"What is it, what's wrong?" She met his dark gaze. In that moment time slowed down. All the chaotic energy around them faded into darkness.

* * *

They were somehow shifted to an indistinguishable darkened space, the only thing she could see was him standing in front of her. The only thing she could hear were her own breaths, and her heart pumping in her ears. But even that had slowed.

She looked around, questioning. She felt her perception changed, looking at her hands in front of her, curling and uncurling her fingers as if they weren't her own. She looked up to the Doctor with a furrowed brow. "Where are the others, we have to save them."

"We're in the time vortex, they can wait. I had to be sure of something. That us meeting now isn't creating a paradox. We're near the heart of my ship."

"Did you bring us here?"

"No. Yes. Not totally, but it's interesting, really. River, how many times have you time traveled?"

She shook her head. "Who said I ever time travelled?" The fire in her cerebral synapses that had, up to that moment, been her normal were suddenly cooled. She pushed into her temporary subconscious the myriad of questions about her friend's powers. But she trusted him-she in no way could question that he brought her to a place she belonged. "I…I like it here."

"I know. Don't change the subject. You just said you used a vortex manipulator." His gaze was piercing. His words were weighted and powerful in this strange place.

She laughed off his intensity, "I've never used one of those."

"River what's a vortex manipulator?"

"It's a…" In this setting of slowed time, she was able to perceive that there was nothing in her memory where there should have been. She embarrassingly looked down at her bare wrist, searching for the words she was hopeless to grasp. Instead she saw the Doctor had taken her hand, and the confused anxiety she felt welling within her chest began to dissipate only to be replaced by a calming energy. "Doctor, what's happening?"

"We're in the time vortex near the core, I told you." He replied as if that was supposed to offer clarity.

She shook her head. "So I become some sort of time traveler and we meet in the future? And you're worried we aren't supposed to meet now?" Her eyes were wide imagining the possibilities.

"All I know is if we are not supposed to meet now, being here in the vortex and touching we would create a paradox possibly splitting apart the fabric of time."

"Oh well that's good, I'm glad you were right since that's what we're doing right now." She hardly hid her sarcasm.

He smiled and shrugged. "I just knew. Well," He looked around the void they occupied, "She told me. She wouldn't have let you in if it've been dangerous. Probably wouldn't have landed us here."

"Who is she?"

"My ship. And she obviously wanted you to know about her too." He gave a cynical expression, flavored with a hint of jealousy. "She likes you. A Lot. River, I want to help you, like I promised. But I don't know how. I had a plan…but if you're outside of your timeline now, there is an extreme likelihood it's the only reason we were able to meet."

She followed his gaze down to their joined hands, and fingers that had unconsciously become entwined. She could sense a low hum of energy coursing between them. It was the same comforting energy she felt when she entered his space ship, that somehow reached into her mind and brought up a memory from deep within her mottled brain. It was happiness…it was love.

River's eyes welled with emotion from a corner of her buried subconscious. "Well here's a solution. Take me with you. I don't want to go back to whoever did this to me, Doctor."

Overcome by her longing for normalcy, he tenderly brought his hand to her face and wiped away a tear. The contact completed the current of a subtle energy arc between them and she ever so slightly leaned into his touch, closing her eyes

Stress escaped him in a hiss, with another mine laid in his path by the universe. He trudged on, with eyes closed, not ever really prepared, but expecting detonation. "River, River, what are you?" He sighed. "You know that's temporal energy you're feeling, the force that creates all of time and space…in a manner of speaking."

"Why do I feel you're sad?"

"Because there aren't many like that left," answering bluntly and with subterfuge simultaneously.

Her face remained pressed into his palm as she abruptly opened her eyes, wide and wondering. "Doctor, what are _you_? Are you God?"

"Me? Create the universe? I can hardly pick out a tie in the morning." He chuckled with an amused grin.

"How can you be sure if you might not remember?"

He opened his mouth to reply, then frowned. "Good question." He dropped his hand from her face and River had her free hand finding it, immediately completing the arc again.

"Doctor I want to stop who did this. I can't remember anyway; can you just go to the past and help me? If I can't remember, how do we know what should, and shouldn't happen?"

"River, I made a promise to you. I tried changing your past once and you made me promise I wouldn't." He released her hand and on the inside of her opposite forearm traced a complex network of circles and lines. The energy transfer between them, so close to the core of the TARDIS, created a golden tingling glow on her tawny skin. "But I can assure you, you won't just be OK, River Song. You'll be extraordinary."

River looked up to see a comforting smile that reached his eyes. Overwhelmed by his candor, she blushed, and looked away. Nodding at the fading symbol on her arm she asked, "What is this, what does it mean? It's beautiful."

"Perseverance. It's my language. I'm quite sure you know it; I've caught you reading before. I'm sure I'm the only one in the universe who could teach you."

"And I don't know it." Realization crept across her face.

He shook his head with a frown. "No you don't. I would have taught you though. It's best to start young. It's very difficult. Besides, I have a feeling we'll be like family, but I'm…quite sure I won't be a father figure."

She smiled sadly, reaching for hope. "Well I don't care. I can't wait to learn. But you're sure there's nothing that can be done?"

"Well taking you with us seems like the safest temporary solution. We need to figure it out after we talk Sullivan into freezing the planet again."

Abruptly a door cracked that they hadn't known existed, blinding light on the other side. They both looked at the door. "I don't want to leave this place Doctor." She looked back up to him to see that same comforting smile, his eyes seemingly looking into her and understanding more about who and what she was than she could hope to.

She stunned herself, her arms impulsively flung around him as she buried her face into his jacket, emitting quiet sobs from a place she was too frightened to venture by herself.


	13. Chapter 13

River and the Doctor emerged from a door that Rory hadn’t known was there. It was just off the control room but he’d long since stopped questioning the layout of the Tardis. When he was alone, he could just think about things and they seemed to appear.

“Hey where did you go, you just disappeared,” Amy questioned but immediately noticed River’s upset state. She’d obviously been crying, and Amy ran down the stairs to address the situation. “Doctor, what happened? River, was he mean to you again?” She shot a scowl to the Doctor. “I told you to get along and look, now she’s crying. Come here River.”

River held up her hands and stepped back. “No, I’m fine. I am just…so happy I found you all.” She wiped the remaining tears away and gave Amy, and Rory still up by the console, a genuine smile.

“Well, one of the advantages of travel in the TARDIS is that when you need a rest we can pop in the vortex and take a break. Behold, for the first time in nearly a millennium of TARDIS history…”

“Get ready River, It’s the crown jewel,” Rory yelled down, not hiding his sarcasm.

“…. A SNACK BAR!” Amy ushered her to a table with fruit, tiny sandwiches, biscuits(with the chocolate) and other cookies. A teapot with four overturned cups on saucers sat beside it.

“Four? Is someone else here?”

“No, I guess the ship thought you’d want tea. If you want something else you just really have to think about it but not jammie dodgers, the Doctor will eat a whole thing and then get terribly giddy and then get a stomachache and be sour so only on holidays and such.” Amy replied flippantly. She saw River’s questioning expression. “What?”

“I’m not sure if I’m impressed or terrified.”

“You’ll get used to it!” Rory yelled down form the console and turned to the Doctor, who’d joined him by the console. “What the hell happened. We were standing by the door and you two just dematerialized.”

“I wouldn’t call it that, she just wanted us in a quieter place.”

“Well where? I checked your room, the library, the study. Even the pool.”

“The core. I think she wanted a closer look.”

“Look at what? She being River or she being the TARDIS?” Rory was extremely patient but more than anything else he disliked being needlessly worried.

“Ay, Mr. Centurion enough with the questions. Everything’s fine. Oh Except River tried to kill me.”

“WHAT?”

“SHHH! Don’t worry Amy. I was stupid and…”

“Ha that means a lot coming from you, you know.”

He rolled his eyes. “Any way I triggered some conditioned reaction in her, and she tried to kill me. Water under the bridge.”

“Doctor it sounds like more an issue than you’re letting on. Are we safe with her? I know she’s young but seems like she’d had some serious military training.” He was reminded of the time he was in command of a bunch of idiots with pointy metal, and even his superiors were mostly idiots. This 16 year old River could have commanded the Roman army across Europe. Then he realized that River did command the Roman army across Europe. “Okay Doctor, having her with us is a terrible idea. We have got to take her back.”

The Doctor leaned on the railing; arms crossed in thought. “I don’t disagree, but she’s been subjected to unimaginable suffering. And taking her back will no doubt allow it to continue. I think her memory has been wiped and replaced, if it happens again there may be lasting damage. It’s universally agreed that doing it to a developing mind is an extraordinary no no.”

“It’s possible to just erase memory like that?”

“Yes, there are different methods, all terrible and unethical and something I only do if absolutely necessary.” He looked to see Rory’s terrified reaction. “No of course I’ve never done it to you. Ahem.” The doctor cleared his throat with what Rory assumed was an admission of guilt.

“You’re not serious!”

“Oh it’s only bad for a developing brain. And if done constantly. Once or twice never hurt anyone. River, however, has been wiped and reprogrammed I’m guessing dozens of times. She has no idea what she knows, how she knows it, or even who she is, really.”

“And then with combat training.” They shared a knowing glance. Rory hoped his point was hitting home. “How can someone exist like that?”

“Easy if you don’t remember anything different.” The Doctor replied, pensive. “How’s your hand?”

Before he could answer a teacup whizzed by Rory’s head, missing him by mere centimeters. They both ducked after it shattered above them, splattering milky tea and white shards across the console.

He and the doctor shared a startled reaction as they looked down to Amy and River who seemed to also share wide eyed surprise. Amy was holding an empty saucer and River was beside her, absently shaking her hand as if it were wet. Or suddenly charged with cross directional temporal energy. Amy turned to River. “Well that was interesting. Liz is going to be so upset though.” She frowned, “These were my wedding gift.”

“What happened?!” Rory exclaimed, wearing down the adrenaline from almost being victim to the bone china projectile.

Amy and River shared a look. River looked back up to Rory and the Doctor. “I suppose we could try to do it again. It was pretty cool.”

Amy was not as excited but shrugged, turned back to the table and picked up another teacup to replace on the saucer. “Okay…but we better not break two of them.” She held the cup and saucer to River who, gently rubbing her fingers together in preparation, touched the edge of the plate. The teacup began vibrating and then violently shook.

River smiled in amazement. “Oh that’s so cool.” The cup actually started to hover above the saucer just before River removed her finger, the cup dropping back onto the saucer with a clink. “It hurts more now though,” she said, stretching her hand out and wiggling her fingers.

Rory turned to the Doctor to ask what the hell was going on, only to see him leaned over with his head resting on the railing and looking at the floor. “River! Don’t touch Amy. And probably Rory. Thank you.” With a sharp, stressed inhale, the Doctor stood and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“Amy! What’s wrong? Doctor!” Both Rory and the Doctor looked down to see Amy doubled over, clutching her stomach, River standing by helpless but knowing well enough to follow the Doctor’s instructions.

“Aargh” Amy was attempting to stand upright, and Rory was by her side having jumped over the railing. “No I’m fine—ow.” It seemed the pain was subsiding. “No, I think I’m fine but. Ow.”

The fear and protectiveness that had been spurring Rory’s council finally broke to the surface. “OK Amy, you’ve overdone it today, you need to sit and rest, right now.” And he began ushering her up the stairs to the console’s jump seat.

“I think I’m fine, I just, yeah, let me sit down.”

The Doctor and Rory shared a knowing glance, Rory hoped his feelings were getting through. It was all fun and games until Amy was getting hurt.

“Doctor what is this about?” River inquired from below.

“We’re in the Vortex.”

“Oh…” Realization dawned on river and she looked at Amy and Rory up on the platform and still backed father away. “I think we’re someplace else right now?”

“Yes.” He replied quietly as if that was supposed to make any sense to Amy and Rory.

Rory had been carefully gauging the Doctor’s deteriorating mental state as he was taking Amy’s pulse and fussing over her. When he got quiet and introspective in the midst of a problem, it usually went one of two ways. He’d let the stalemate over take him, or become the oncoming storm. Neither was the Doctor Rory really wanted to deal with at this juncture, since this situation already seemed out of hand.

“Doctor, we need a plan.” Rory ignored Amy’s hands slapping him away, trying to assess her temperature.

“Yes, a plan. I’m full of plans, the master of plans.” His deflated attitude didn’t quite match his words.

“I’m really sorry Amy, I didn’t know. I don’t even know you. I’m glad I do though. And I’m glad we’ll meet again someday.”

The Doctor was pulled from his thoughts. “River, you don’t ever need to be sorry, none of this is your fault. I want you to remember that, no matter what happens.”

“Wait, so we know each other? I don’t think that’s possible.” Realization dawned on Amy.

“Well it is, River exists in your present time stream, whether you know it or not. It’s very strange the TARDIS even let us be here, much less enter the vortex. It tends to make her very grumpy.”

This received a nod from Rory, if there’s one thing he understood it was that nothing made sense, but the TARDIS was usually right. “Is this reaction Amy had normal?”

Amy brushed him off. “Rory, don’t worry, I’m fine now. Right Doctor?”

“Well, I haven’t had many people creating a paradox and having tea in the Vortex. You need a special machine to really pull it off for any amount of time. For Time Lords it’s a little more wibbly wobbly, though.” His gaze pensively settled on River.

“Okay!” He hopped off the rail with renewed energy, thankfully to Rory the most productive version of the Doctor seemed restored. “Everyone we are heading back to deal with Gooblins and this Solution Green, which, I assume is some thermoneuclear warhead designed to destroy whatever unknown entity you were going to some across, River?” The doctor began fussing about the console, adjusting this and that but being careful of the mess the girls made of his TARDIS with the tea and chips of china.

“Uh yeah it’s something like that.” River replied sheepishly.

“Rory, can you get my bag,” Amy ordered as she attempted to stand up and assist the Doctor.

“Yeah, absolutely not. You’re staying right here.” Rory demanded, which was followed by an unnecessarily lengthy and heated argument that ended in compromise when the Doctor handed her a communicator and convinced her that she was needed to monitor things from the TARDIS.

Which was good because upon landing they opened the TARDIS door to a complete war zone.


	14. Chapter 14

Had they not recognized the tents and portable buildings from the previous encampment, he’d have gone back to confirm they hit the correct moon.

River walked out the door under the Doctor’s arm and took in the situation. “It would be nice if I had my weapon right now,” her sarcasm lost on no one. There was an explosion somewhere in the middle of camp that shook the ground, Rory and the Doctor took cover in the TARDIS, while River pressed forward. The Doctor looked at Rory, who seemed to be sharing his feeling of dread at going into combat with the little general. The Doctor tried not to think about the fixed points in the palm of her hand and followed her out.

“River please refrain from killing anyone unless absolutely necessary.” The Doctor said after he and Rory caught up to her, taking cover behind a rock. She was holding her ear with a troubled look. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing just something is distorting my comm patch. I’m trying to get Sullivan but it’s just feedback. Maybe with whatever happened back there in the TARDIS it got messed up.”

“How many do you think there are?” Rory was trying to count the soldiers and had to duck with another explosion.

“It’s hard to see from here. I could climb up to a better vantage point. Or go in and do recon. Find out why the heck people want to attack an archaeology dig.”

“No,” the Doctor said, “We don’t have time, the Gooblin is coming. We need to disable the atmospheric generators and I think we should be able to from a console like the one I was using earlier today, if we can find one.”

“And make sure Sullivan doesn’t blow up the moon and give us all the virus.”

“Precisely.”

“I have my perception filter; I can at least find Sullivan and…” They were shaken by another explosion. “Well that sounded like a grenade. I hope they got the university staff and students out—"

“Sontarahhhh!” River was cut off when the battle came to them. A Sontaran with an elecrosword jumped from behind an outcropping, running right for them. Before the Doctor could even react, River ran straight for him and reflexively countered him, an easy task being their stocky form is so clumsy. She smoothly disarmed him, countered him again and jumped behind him. With an almost imperceptible look to the Doctor, she jammed his helmet in a swift motion and brought the pommel of the electrosword down upon it with two cracks. She jumped down and unholstered his photon pistol. An angry, visionless and cursing Sontaran struggling with a stuck and cracked helmet was left in her wake.

She walked past the Doctor with a smug grin and flipped the sword, holding the hilt to Rory. She nodded toward the doctor, “Rory, I figure you’re more useful with this than he is.” And with the pistol down and in hand ready to be used said, “okay I guess it’s time to join the party, boys.” She led them to a boulder closer to the action, checking for signs of another ambush.

“Thank you, River,” the Doctor said when they caught up with her, his back to the rock. They shared a nod. They both knew she could have easily given a fatal blow to his vent instead.

“See, I listen.”

“But no more hand to hand combat either. From either of you.” And he looked over to Rory, who was swinging the sword about with practiced movements, adjusting to its weight.

“Rory, the activation button is there under the cross guard.” River mentioned, completely ignoring the Doctor.

“Hey, is anyone listening to me?” This wasn’t the time for him to be losing control of the troops. “I don’t think you two realize the danger we’re in.”

“Yes, I know the Sontaran was wearing dome helm, they’re expecting to be unable to breathe the air for some reason. They may be using gas.” She rolled her eyes at what she probably felt was a sophomoric observation.

“Well that too, but THERE ARE SONTARANS HERE. They don’t even exist in this galaxy. There are two reasons they’d be here. One, the empire is lodging a full scale on assault of Earth, starting with this moon for some ridiculous reason, or….someone brought them here using unauthorized time travel.”

“What do you call what we did back there?”

“That’s beyond the point. We aren’t ordered to attack people on sight, like our friend over there.” He nodded to the Sontaran behind them, still cursing and flailing about. “Who knows what else we’re running into.” He didn’t voice his thoughts over rogue Sontarans, which didn’t really exist. They weren’t exactly the mercenary, free thinking type without significant psychological reprogramming...huh. 

Across the rocky plain they could see stray photon shots coming from the camp. Emerging from an alley was none other than Sullivan, exchanging rounds with another Sontaran and a Human soldier, dressed in a dark grey uniform. He had both down quickly and looked toward their boulder, then completely disappeared. The Doctor however could easily see the distortion left by the perception filter, especially since he was running toward them.

He deactivated it when he reached them, behind the cover, breathless. “Hey. I saw you land this time.”

“Sulli are you all right? What is going on here?” River asked.

“Hey come here you.” And he impulsively brought a surprised River into a bear hug. “God honey I was worried sick, the shit just hit the fan about a half hour ago and I haven’t heard from you.”

“Oh, come on you know I was fine,” she wrestled out of the hug, smiling. It was in that moment the Doctor felt the seeds of a plan beginning to take root. His ancient mind instantaneously processed the options for her after they were done. He wondered how much Sullivan really knew about River, and how loyal he was to this agency or whoever was behind River’s abuse, and if he could be trusted.

“Well we have some problems, Sullivan,” she continued. “We have got to call off Solution green, it’ll spread the virus. Even shooting that thing may cause it to be airborne, we don’t know. And it’s coming right for us.”

“Yeah Brighton said you were being chased and so we were able to track it. I did put in authorization to initiate Green, but never got a chance to set the sequence. As soon as I pressed send on the report all these fucking assholes just appeared. It smells like they came from the vortex. You know that smell—"

“Sullivan” the Doctor interrupted, “did your report happen to mention me?”

He responded with tight lipped realization that he might have initiated this attack.

River shook his arm. “Hey you didn’t know. He should’ve told us not to broadcast he was here. He’s obviously very popular.” She glared at the Doctor. “Sullivan, that thing is coming, and heat makes it move faster. If we were gone for a half hour then who knows where it is.”

“I’ve got Brighton on it. According to his calculations with its speed, distance and acceleration we have 20 minutes.”

Rory chimed in, “That was before all this stuff started blowing up.”

They all shared an Oh Shit face.

The Doctor took a deep breath. “Okay, yes let’s join the party. Do you have schematics of the encampment on your handheld?”

“Yes”, River replied and taking it off her belt busied herself with finding it.

“We need to find the nearest console that can disable the field generators. Sullivan, where are most of the uh…”

“Assholes?”

“I was going to say inter species coalition focused on our destruction but that’s fine. Where are they congregating?” River wordlessly handed him her computer with a holographic map of the encampment and returned to Rory who was watching the action from behind their cover. The doctor noted that it was detailed, and the station powering the field generators themselves were underground just a couple hundred meters away.

“It seems like they have some sort of command post on the far end.” They all ducked instinctively with another explosion and Sullivan scratched behind his ear. “Brighton, come in, you ok? Yes we need a few more minutes before evac. I need you to check and see if you can bypass the security protocols and access the environmental containment generators...FUCK! No it’s fine…I need you guys to pull out, it’s gonna get colder than a witch’s titty in about 5 minutes. Yea see you at the extraction point.” Another scratch and he turned to the Doctor. “Okay, I should be able to access it with a retinal scan. Why don’t you guys pull out too and I’ll go do it--”

“No this is too important,” the Doctor interrupted. “If you can’t get it disabled, we may need to do it manually here, at the power station.” He gave River back her computer. “You and Rory stay here and, uh, guard the Tardis from him.” The Doctor nodded to the Sontaran who was still wandering around running into boulders.

The Doctor received twin scowls from the Centurion and the Assassin.

Sullivan nodded to the dejected Sontaran. “Hey what’s that about.”

“Long story.” River replied. “Hey uh Sir, my perception filter keeps blinking. Do you have an extra.”

“Sure, you stay safe, this shouldn’t take but a few minutes.” He tossed it as he walked off. The Doctor was farther ahead and didn’t see her sly smile and wink to Rory after she caught it.

“Be careful Doctor,” River called after. “You have a promise to keep.”’

He turned back with a smile, “Leave it to me to never, ever forget that, Miss Song.”

Sullivan gave a questioning look between the two. He wondered what his agent and this Doctor had been up to, that involved revealing her name in addition to the obvious familiarity. But there were more pressing issues at hand. Like not getting killed, not getting a virus and not freezing to death.


End file.
